Chosen
by InvisiMeg
Summary: Quinn Fabray knew she was going to be chosen for a lot of things-Cheerios captain, prom queen, valedictorian-but this was one thing she wasn't expecting.
1. Chosen

**This is really more of a supernatural action romantic dramedy, but that really wasn't an option.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1 - <strong>Chosen<strong>**

Quinn Fabray walked down the halls of McKinley High with her head up, flanked on either side by Santana and Brittany. She couldn't help but smirk as the students parted like the Red Sea for them. She loved the power their red, white, and black uniforms gave them. That combined with the fact that they were the three hottest girls at school meant they were unstoppable.

"Berry, Ten o'clock," Santana whispered.

Quinn looked down the hall and spotted her. Her hazel eyes sparkled as she made a beeline for the unsuspecting brunette.

The three Cheerios came to a halt a few feet away and Santana handed Quinn the cup she'd been holding.

"Hey!" Santana said, causing Rachel to look their way.

Before Rachel could even realize what was about to hit her, Quinn had thrown the frozen beverage in her face and Santana was laughing.

"Welcome back, Midget," Quinn greeted.

Rachel continued standing there, obviously too shocked to even move. Quinn smirked again and continued her journey down the hall; Santana was still flanking her, but Brittany paused for a moment to give Rachel a sympathetic smile.

"Later," Santana said, stopping at Quinn's final class to turn around and grab Brittany's hand.

"Do you really have to be so mean?" Brittany chastised as she and Santana continued down the hall. "Her dad just died and she's probably already sad enough right now without having to—"

Quinn listening to them for as long as she could hear them and she couldn't help but smile; despite being around her and Santana all the time, Brittany never once lost her compassion and Quinn was proud of her for it.

As soon as Quinn walked into her classroom, her eyes fell onto her very much not empty desk. With one glare, though, the weird Asian girl scrambled from the seat to her own, directly behind Quinn's.

The teacher was in the middle of speaking when Quinn had entered; he momentarily paused but continued. She was a few minutes late, but he would never say anything. Every teacher was too afraid of facing the wrath of her cheerleading coach to ever punish the Cheerios in any way. It was just one of many perks.

Quinn took her seat and could hear the girl behind her mutter something under her breath but chose to ignore it. Instead, she crossed her arms over her desk and put her chin on top.

She began fighting a losing battle with sleep and suddenly found herself thrust back into the nightmare she'd experienced the previous night.

_Quinn hit the ground with a loud thud and tried to get her bearings. She once again had the feeling that someone—or something—was watching her. _

_She looked around for something to protect herself; she'd been in this position already and knew something was going to come barreling through the trees at any moment. Unfortunately for her, though, the ground didn't have so much as a small twig on it._

_She cursed in frustration when she heard it. That thumping on the ground as if something very large and very heavy was running right for her. Without a second thought, Quinn turned and ran. She didn't know where she was going, but she went as fast as her legs could carry her. The noise was getting louder and then an ungodly shriek pierced the night air. _

_Quinn covered her ears but didn't slow down._

_She ran until the trees became less thick and she found herself in a fairly sparse area. The moon was full above and she could see the path illuminated before her. It had to lead to somewhere, so she ran down it while listening for the creature; it was no longer behind her but seemed to be running through the trees parallel to her._

_Just as she could see the end of the path and civilization, she was knocked sideways and started screaming._

Quinn was vaguely aware that someone was calling her name but she could barely hear it over the screams that were coming out of her own mouth.

The girl that sat behind her was kneeling beside Quinn, prying her hands off her face, and trying to calm the blonde down.

After a few moments, Quinn finally realized she was curled up on the floor of her classroom and stopped screaming. She was still shaking, though, and was trying to get her breathing to return to normal.

"Are you okay?" the girl above her asked.

Quinn could feel everyone staring at her and noticed that most people looked on as if she was some form of entertainment. The only person that even looked remotely concerned was the Asian girl hovering above her. Quinn made a mental note to be a little nicer to her.

"I'm—" Quinn slowly sat up, still feeling dazed.

"Do you want me to take you to the nurse?"

Quinn could only nod as she was helped up off the floor. She ignored the looks that everyone else was giving her and walked to the door, stumbling a bit.

"Wait," Quinn said once she was in the hall. "Take me to Coach Sylvester's office."

"Shouldn't you go see the nurse?"

Quinn shook her head. "The Cheerios have a better nurse on call."

The two continued to her office; Quinn could feel the other girl's eyes on her. She was probably looking for her to have another freak out and Quinn really couldn't blame her.

They stopped just outside Sylvester's office and Quinn quietly knocked on the door before opening it. She turned back to the other girl and gave her a small smile.

"Thanks, Tina," Quinn said.

The other girl actually looked surprised; Quinn didn't know if she was surprise that she was thanking her or that she knew her name.

"You're welcome."

* * *

><p>"Faster!"<p>

Quinn rolled her eyes as Coach Sylvester yelled at them all; sometimes she wondered if all the abuse was really worth it.

She was normally fine with the running, but today she was struggling. She didn't know if it was the lack of sleep but she'd been feeling strange all day. Maybe she was coming down with something. Either way, all this running definitely wasn't helping; they'd been out here for hours and most of it was spent running in the hot sun.

Several girls actually passed Quinn as she started slowing down on the track.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Q?"

Quinn took a deep breath and shook her head, trying to get rid of the weird feeling. Santana and Brittany had both stopped and turned around to look at their friend.

"Keep running!"

"Quinn?" Brittany took a step toward her, looking frightened. "You're really white."

"Seriously, Q, you might want to sit down before you—" Santana and Brittany watched her hit the ground. "—pass out."

This time Quinn woke up with Brittany hovering above her, her blues eyes sparkling with concern. As soon as her eyes opened, the other blonde was smiling at her.

"About damn time," Santana said from somewhere above her before her head popped into view.

"Weak," Coach Sylvester said, popping into view as well before putting her megaphone in front of her mouth. "That's it! Practice is over thanks to Q here. Be here at six a.m.!"

Everyone groaned but no one more so than Quinn, who was groaning from soreness when she tried to stand.

Brittany helped her to her feet and kept a steadying hand on her waist. "You scared me."

"Sorry," Quinn apologizing, giving her a halfhearted smile.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Let's get you to your car before you pass out again and I have to drag your ass across the field."

Quinn got to her car with some help from Brittany; when they got there, Santana threw Quinn's bag to her. She leaned against the vehicle as she fished her keys out of her bag.

"Are you okay to drive?" Brittany asked. "Maybe you should let San drive you."

Quinn waved her off upon seeing the look on Santana's face. "I'll be fine. I know you two had plans tonight so go on."

Brittany frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes; now go," Quinn ordered.

"If you say so." Santana grabbed Brittany's hand and started pulling her towards the only other car left in the lot.

Quinn rolled her eyes; those two were so obvious sometimes, even if they didn't want to admit what was going on between them.

After watching them pull away and finally finding her keys, Quinn got in her car and tried to start it.

Nothing.

Quinn tried again but her car was completely dead. Sighing, she grabbed her phone to call Santana to come back, but when she found it in her bag, her phone was also dead.

"Just great," she mumbled to herself. "Best day ever."

Quinn got out of the car, locked the car door, and shouldered her bag. Walking was the last thing she felt like doing, but she didn't really have much choice. It was getting dark and cold and she just wanted to get home, take a warm shower, and get a good night's sleep.

She was nearly halfway to her house when she passed by a graveyard and thought she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. She picked up her pace but froze when she heard a distinct sound of someone calling for help.

She really couldn't decide if she should run to or away from the noise. There was no one else within sight, though, and what if someone really was in trouble? Very reluctantly, she headed toward the sound; she looked around for wherever the noise was coming from, but she appeared to be the only person around and the noise had stopped.

She frowned to herself and turned around to go back the way she came, but stopped and screamed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Quinn asked her cheerleading coach, who was suddenly standing right in front of her.

"Q." She nodded and then held out her hand. "You're going to need this."

Quinn took the pointy piece of wood and frowned. "Uh."

"There's a vampire behind you," the older woman calmly said.

Quinn looked up at the woman who had clearly lost her mind. "Whatever you say, Coach."

She started to take a step but stopped when she heard a growling noise come from somewhere behind her. Quinn spun around to find what indeed did look like what she'd imagine a vampire to look like. Yellow eyes, bumpy forehead, bared fangs. Her jaw dropped and she looked at her coach, questioningly.

"Try not to die, I really don't feel like breaking in a new captain."

With that, she walked away and perched herself on top of one of the gravestones at the edge of the cemetery. Quinn looked from her to the piece of wood in her hand to the thing currently staring at her with hunger in his eyes.

This had rapidly turned into the worst day of her life.

Just when she was starting to wonder what the thing in front of her was waiting on, he suddenly started running toward her and Quinn shrieked in surprise. She turned to run but wasn't fast enough and soon found herself on the ground with her arms pinned to her sides.

"You can do better than that!"

Quinn actually rolled her eyes; only Sylvester could be chastising someone as they were fighting for their life.

The—vampire?—smiled and Quinn cringed at the sight. His teeth were yellow and his breath was putrid, hitting her in the face, causing her to have problems breathing.

This was not how she was going to go out.

She started struggling against his grasp, but he only held on tighter. After a few moments, she got desperate and actually head butted him, which caused him to release one of her hands.

Quinn used the momentary freedom to give him a right hook to his temple. He sat up a little higher, still on top of her, but it allowed her to move her leg. She placed her foot on his stomach and used all her leg strength to push him off of her.

He flew several feet and she frantically looked around for the wooden stake that had flown out of her hand when they'd collided. She was grasping around the grass, in the dark, but her hand eventually gripped the object.

With weapon in hand, Quinn scrambled to her feet just as he rushed her again. Quinn flipped the stake around so the sharp end was pointing out and pushed it out just as he reached her. She felt his weight hit it and they both looked down at the object, which was currently half in his chest. They both looked up and locked eyes for a split second before he exploded into dust right in front of her.

"That was sloppy." Quinn looked around with an incredulous look on her face. "And you're doing ten extra laps in the morning for getting your uniform dirty.

Quinn looked down and frowned. There was a bit of dirt and blood from where her arm had been scratched. That was the least of her worries, though, and when she looked up to ask her coach what was going on, the woman was already halfway across the graveyard and Quinn was left wondering if maybe she'd passed out again and had hallucinated the whole thing.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Quinn was walking through the halls again, but she felt like she was in a daze. After making it home the night before, she took a quick shower and immediately went to bed only to have constant nightmares. They were all similar to the one from the previous day but the settings often changed; in every one, though, she was being changed by some unseen creature. By morning she had convinced herself that the previous night was also a dream and—although she had made Quinn do an extra ten laps—her coach hadn't mentioned anything, which lead her to believe that it really was a dream.<p>

"What the hell is with you?" Santana asked as Quinn accidently bumped shoulders with her.

"Sorry," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes.

"You look like the walking dead," Santana said, eyeing the blonde.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Why thank you."

"You really do," Brittany chimed in.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Quinn said, sighing. "I kept having nightmares."

"Well suck it up," Santana said, clearly not at all interested. "And I know just the thing to make you feel better." Santana had an evil smirk on her face and a twinkle in her eye. "Berry is right over there; wanna go have some fun?"

Quinn opened her mouth to reply but one of the other Cheerios walked up to her. "Coach wants you in her office right now."

Quinn groaned as the other girl walked away. "Just what I need to make my day even better. I'll see you two at lunch."

"What a pity," Santana said, smirking at her. "I'll just go have my own fun with Berry."

Brittany gave Quinn a smile before she left them to head to Sue's office. She walked to the closed door and took a deep breath before knocking; it was never good news when Sylvester wanted to see you in her office. After three quick knocks on the door, Quinn waited. A few seconds later, a girl came out crying and Quinn began to worry more. She put her impassive face on, though, and walked into the office.

"Sit."

Quinn did as she was told and watched as her coach shuffled some papers around and then took off her glasses to stare at her.

"You're staying behind after practice today and for the rest of the week," Sue stated. "Last night was sloppy and I won't have any Slayer of mine being anything but the best."

Quinn blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're a Slayer, Q," Sue said, staring at her. "I thought you were intelligent enough to figure that out for yourself, but I guess not."

"A Slayer?" Quinn said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you think you dreamed last night or is your memory just that bad? You have powers, one in every generation, blah blah. The last Slayer died a week ago and now you're the one, so if you want to live, you're going to learn to fight. Being the Slayer makes you a magnet for anything that wants to prove how powerful they are. Combine that with the normal craziness from this town and you'll have your hands full. We need to get you trained before things start figuring out who you are. Not that they're really going to believe it if you keep doing your impression of a guppy."

Quinn snapped her mouth shut and narrowed her eyes. "If I'm this so called 'Slayer' then what does that make you."

"Your Watcher; I'm here to make sure you're up to snuff and try to keep you alive," Sue replied.

"If I'm so important then why haven't you been training me all this time?" Quinn wondered.

Sue shrugged. "I didn't think you would be the one that was called; I figured there were girls that were far more adequate than you, but I guess there really are slim pickings out there."

Quinn scoffed and stood up. "No offense, Coach, but you're insane."

Sue put her glasses back on and stared up at Quinn. "So how do you explain last night?"

"I was dreaming," Quinn stated. "Or maybe hallucinating."

"Training after practice," Sue demanded. "Whether you believe me or not, you're still going to do as I say or you're off the Cheerios."

"Fine," Quinn said, huffing and crossing her arms.

"And stop looking like a petulant child," Sue called after her.

Quinn rolled her eyes and walked out of the office and down the empty hallway; lunch was already halfway over, so she made a detour for the bathroom. She really didn't feel like dealing with people right now anyway. She had a lot of practice at hiding her emotions, but even this was a lot for her to handle and the last thing she needed was Santana grilling her.

Once in the bathroom, she walked over and splashed some water on her face and took a deep breath. She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and started drying her face when she heard a sniffle come from one of the stalls.

"Who's there?" she asked, but she was met with silence except for another sniffle. "Seriously, who is there?"

The door at the stall on the end flew open and Quinn jumped.

"It's just me," Rachel said, stepping out and rubbing her red eyes.

Quinn watched the girl and felt a pang of guilt about whatever Santana had done that made the girl cry in the bathroom. It was probably nothing worse than the things she had personally done to the brunette and that thought made he feel even guiltier. Quinn suddenly found herself wondering if Rachel cried in the bathroom a lot.

"Whatever, Midget," Quinn said.

Quinn grabbed her bag from where she'd thrown it on the floor and walked for the door. Before the door closed, though, she glanced back and locked eyes with the other girl, but the door closed before she could decipher the look on her face.

* * *

><p>"Where were you at lunch?"<p>

Quinn looked up and saw Finn standing above her with a confused looked on his face. Or maybe that was his surprised look—or happy look—she really couldn't tell; his face pretty much always looked the same to her.

"Coach wanted to talk to me," she replied.

"Oh." Finn smiled and sat down in the desk to the left of her. "Are we still on for tonight?"

"Yeah, sure," Quinn said, disinterestedly staring at her notebook and tapping her pencil.

Finn was a nice guy and the school's quarterback; it was why she started dating him, but he was so boring and Quinn immediately tuned him out whenever he opened his mouth. It was expected of her—dating the most popular guy in school—but he was usually just white noise to her. She had way too much going on in her life to really care about dating anyone, but her family made it pretty clear about what she was to do so she didn't have much choice.

"What did Sylvester want?" Santana asked, plopping into the seat behind her as Brittany took the one to the side.

"Oh, you know," Quinn said, shrugging.

"No, I don't know or I wouldn't be asking you," Santana snapped.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "She wants me to stay late after practice."

"Why?" Brittany asked.

"Isn't it obviously?" Santana asked. "Quinn's been sucking so much in practice that she's making her suffer for all the fail."

Quinn clinched her jaw and wanted to hit Santana but couldn't refute it or she'd have to come up with another reason and she couldn't really think of a good one.

"Is that right?" Brittany asked, looking at her.

"Something like that," Quinn said, biting her lower lip.

Santana laughed and Quinn scowled at her; she really wanted to hit her friend right now.

"What's wrong with practice?" Finn wondered.

"Blondie here passed out after running yesterday," Santana said, poking Quinn in the back. "Didn't she tell you?"

Quinn rolled her eyes; Santana knew damn well she hadn't told him and wasn't going to. "It's nothing, Finn, don't worry about it. I was just dehydrated, but I'm fine now."

"Then why did you almost fall off the top of the pyramid this morning?" Santana asked and Quinn could hear the smirk in her voice.

"I'm fine," Quinn said through gritted teeth. "I was just tired this morning."

Sometimes she didn't know how she put up with Santana as her best friend. The girl went from being concerned and protective of her to things like this in the blink of an eye. The girl was seriously bipolar sometimes and Quinn never knew which version of Santana she was going to get and it could randomly change throughout the day.

"What did you do to Berry earlier?" Quinn found herself asking before she even had time to think of what was coming out of her mouth.

"I just had a bit of fun with her," Santana replied.

Quinn looked over to Brittany and the girl's normally serene face had a frown on it. Quinn was guessing whatever 'fun' Santana had was pretty bad and that maybe she didn't want to know.

* * *

><p>"Laughable at best! Practice at 6 a.m.! And don't forget to keep your ass on the field, Q!"<p>

Quinn rolled her eyes and groaned; she was really hoping Sylvester would forget all about her 'training'. She took the opportunity to lie down on the grass and catch her breath as the rest of the Cheerios filed past. Santana smirked down at her and Brittany looked down, giving her a kind smile.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get this over with; I have things to do that don't involve training your sorry ass."

Quinn groaned again and reluctantly got up from the surprisingly comfortable grass to trudge behind her coach. She wondered where they were going since they were heading inside, but Sue seemed to be heading to the gym—or maybe the Cheerios locker room.

"Here," Sue said, dangling a key in front of Quinn's face.

"What's this?" Quinn asked.

"A key," Sue replied. "Are you blind?"

Quinn bit her tongue and continued following her coach to the Cheerio's locker room and to a door she'd never seen opened before.

"Well go on," Sue impatiently said.

Quinn bit back her retort and stuck the key in the doorknob and opened the door to reveal a pitch black room. She stepped through and heard something drop on the floor behind her. As soon as she turned around, Sue was closing the door behind her, saying, "You're going to need that."

Right before the door closed, she looked down to see another wooden stake and was suddenly filled with dread. She immediately bent down, grabbed the stake, and straightened up, groping her hand around the wall to find the light switch that had to be there somewhere. Just as she heard a growl, her hand connected with the switch and she flicked the light on.

"Jesus, not again," she muttered, staring into the eyes of another vampire.

So much for training.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Quinn shouted, slamming her hand on the metal door.

She could hear the thing behind her start moving and she whipped around right as he came barreling at her. She moved just in time, though, and he went slamming head first into the door.

Quinn backed away, tripping over something in the process, and hitting her shoulder on a crate. She hissed in pain and staggered to her feet just as the vampire was getting back on his.

She frantically looked around and there were weapons all over the walls but none she knew how to use. There was a sword, but it was half her size and she figured she would do more damage to herself with it than anything else. Instead, she gripped the stake tighter and tried to formulate a plan—it was easier said than done when she had a vampire staring hungrily at her.

"I can do this," Quinn said, squaring her shoulders.

The vampire rushed her again and Quinn used the momentum and her Cheerios training to roll with him. They both tumbled and the vampire ended up on his back with Quinn straddling him. She was so surprised that it worked that she stared at him for a second before thrusting the stake into his chest. Like the first time, he turned to dust underneath her, causing her to fall forward a bit.

She smiled to herself and looked around to make sure Sylvester didn't have any other surprises that were about to pounce on her. She saw nothing, though, so she got up, walked to the door, and pounded her fist on it.

"He's gone," Quinn said loudly.

She could hear the jungle of keys and the door opened. "What took you so long?"

Quinn rubbed her left shoulder and frowned. "At least I did it; I'm alive and he isn't."

"Do you really think you're going to survive out there if there's more than one or even one that isn't new?" Sue asked. "That thing was newly turned, just like the one from last night. You need to be prepared because you will not live for long out there."

"If all of this is real, then why the hell was I not being trained all along?" Quinn yelled. "You keep saying how bad I am, but I haven't even known about this for a day!"

"I told you," Sue replied. "I didn't think it would be you."

Quinn scoffed. "I remember—because I'm inadequate, yeah?"

Sue sighed and sat down on a bench against the wall. "I was hoping it wouldn't be you. You already had so much pressure on you and I didn't want to put the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Quinn stared at her coach, blinking. Was Sue really showing emotion and—dare she think it—caring?

"So what is a Watcher?" Quinn asked.

"A Watcher is there to guide their Slayer, train them, try to keep them alive," Sue replied. "The Council sent me here ten years ago to keep an eye on you."

"You've been watching out for me for the last ten years?" Quinn was shocked.

"Lima is worse than most towns and not just because of all the mediocrity here," Sue stated. "There's rumored to be a Hellmouth in Cleveland, but it's actually here."

"A Hellmouth?" Quinn asked.

Sue stood up and put her hands on her hips. "One of many; it means everything will be drawn to the evil energy in this place and you're twice as likely to fail. As soon as the last Slayer died, you gained all kinds of abilities—speed, agility, strength—but you need to learn to use it if you're going to learn to survive."

Quinn sighed; this was crazy and she wouldn't believe any of it if she hadn't seen everything with her own two eyes. So either she was delusional or this was really happening. She would honestly rather be delusional, but something told her she wasn't. It did cross her mind that it all could be part of an elaborate joke, but Quinn didn't think Sue even knew what a joke was.

"So do we start the training now?" Quinn asked.

If this was really happening then she was damn well going to learn to fight; she was only fifteen, she wasn't ready to die.

"Excellent," Sue said, grinning.

* * *

><p>"Where were you last night?" Finn asked, coming up to Quinn's locker.<p>

"What?" she asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

"We were supposed to go out last night?" Finn said in a harsh whisper. "I went to your house and your mother said you hadn't been home and she didn't know where you were. You made me look like an idiot!"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "You're good at looking like an idiot all by yourself; you don't need my help with that."

Finn frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Take a hint," Quinn said, slamming her locker shut. "I'm sorry that I forgot about last night, but I have more important things going on in my life than you."

Finn huffed. "Let's go out tonight then."

"I can't," Quinn said, trying to walk away.

"Go out with me tonight or we're over," Finn said, getting in her way. "I'm your boyfriend and you need to make time for me."

"I told you, I can't," Quinn said, pushing past him.

"What's so much more important than me?" Finn asked.

Quinn sighed. "None of your business. We're over, Finn."

"What?" He was turning slightly red.

"You're the one who said we're over if I don't go out with you tonight," Quinn reminded him. "I'm not, so we're done."

"I didn't mean it," Finn said, trying to keep up with her.

"Well I do," Quinn replied, walking away from him as he scratched his head.

"Did I just hear you breaking up with Finn?" Santana asked, falling in beside Quinn.

Quinn sighed. "Yes."

"I must say I didn't see that one coming," Santana said, smirking.

"He was bugging me," Quinn coolly said.

"I didn't think you had it in you," Santana said, actually smiling at her.

Quinn stopped and faced Santana "What do you mean?"

"You clearly didn't even like him," Santana said, shrugging. "I wondered why you were with him to begin with, but then I remembered your parents and knew it was them pressuring you. You're too good for that simpleton."

"Uh thanks, Santana," Quinn said, thrown by how nice Santana was being.

"Don't mention it, bitch," Santana said over her shoulder as she walked away.

* * *

><p>"I'm what?" Quinn asked, putting her hands on her hips.<p>

"Patrolling," Sue repeated.

Quinn scoffed. "Is that really a good idea? We've only trained twice and now you want me to go out there on my own? Are you crazy? I'm going to get killed out there!"

"People are dying, Q" Sue stated. "You need to get out there as soon as possible or things are only going to get worse."

Quinn sighed; she knew she wasn't ready for this, but what choice did she have? She'd never been one for sacrificing herself for others, but that was pretty much her job now. She could sit back and not accept her destiny, but it didn't feel right; she had the power to help the world and she couldn't just do nothing.

"Fine," Quinn said, nodding. "I'll go out there."

"Good." Sue handed her a small bag. "Stakes, holy water, a dagger, a cross, and a first aid kit."

Quinn laughed. "I'll definitely be needing that by the end of the night."

"I would go with you but—"

"I need to do this on my own," Quinn said, nodding in understanding.

"This is me throwing you in the deep end," Sue stated.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Coach," Quinn said.

"Go to the graveyard from Monday night," Sue instructed. "Someone was freshly buried and they died under mysterious circumstances, so chances are they'll be coming out of the ground tonight."

Quinn nodded. "Okay."

"Sun's nearly down," Sue said, looking out the window.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Quinn said, heading for the door. As soon as she reached it, she turned around. "Does this mean I can get out of Cheerios practice in the morning?"

Sue's eyes narrowed at her. "Only if you die."

"I might be able to arrange that," Quinn said with a small smile.

Forty minutes later, she found herself wondering around the graveyard, stake in one hand and a cross in the other, intently listening for any noise. So far she had miraculously fended off a rogue cat that jumped out and scared the shit out of her, but there had been nothing supernatural. She found the freshly dug grave of one Gregory Sampson and was keeping a close eye on it, though.

It wasn't very late, but Quinn couldn't stop yawning. The nightmares had yet to subside and actually seemed to be getting worse. She didn't know if it was because she was suddenly learning of the horrors that were really out there or if it was something else, but it was making it difficult to get a good night's rest.

"What's a girl like you doing all alone in a place like this?"

Quinn jumped and whipped around to find herself staring into the green eyes of a girl not much older than her. After a moment, she realized what she was holding and threw her hands behind her back. The last thing she needed was someone thinking she liked hanging out in graveyards with a pointy piece of wood and a cross.

"I could ask you the same question," Quinn retorted.

"Just taking a stroll," the redhead replied.

"Me too," Quinn lied.

"Is that why you were just standing there with a stake in your hand?"

Quinn groaned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Does this mean we have an actual Slayer in town? My mistress will be so pleased to learn that I've killed you."

Quinn was prepared when the redheaded vampire charged her; she grabbed the vampire's arm and flipped her over. She didn't stay down long, though, and Quinn suddenly found herself with a punch to the face.

"This is going to be too easy."

Quinn scoffed. "Keep telling yourself that."

Quinn thrust the cross into the vampire's face and she recoiled, giving Quinn the chance to place a perfectly aimed kick to the head. It knocked the vampire back a few feet and Quinn gripped her stake, quickly plunging it into the creature's chest.

"Yes!" Quinn cheered, jumping into the air in victory.

Maybe she could do this.

"Quinn?"

The blonde turned around to see none other than Rachel Berry standing there, frown on her face, and mouth slightly open in what looked like surprise.

"Who was that and why did she just explode? And what's a Slayer?"

Quinn's eyes widened. "Oh god."

* * *

><p><strong>Anyone who knows me will not be surprised at all that I did this. I'm the biggest Buffy nut you'll ever find and I've always wanted to do something like this, but this was the first time I thought the characters of a show would go well with the concept.<strong>

**If you all like it and want more, I plan on doing a 22 chapter story; it would essentially be a 22 episode season with an overarching story.**

**So definitely let me know what you think and let me know if you like it or I won't know if I should continue on.**

**Also, bonus points to anyone who knows why I picked today to post it :).**


	2. Deep End

**I forgot to mention during the last chapter that this takes place in the Buffyverse, but the Buffy characters don't necessarily exist in this world, so no multiple Slayers.**

**Thank you to everyone that commented on the last chapter.**

**Enjoy...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2 – Deep End<strong>

"What _was_ that? They-they just exploded into dust!"

Quinn was staring at her with her mouth agape, not even bothering to hide the fact that the stake and cross were still in her hands. She was prepared for vampires tonight, not for Rachel Berry. She wanted to run away and pretend this never happened, but she couldn't just leave Rachel all alone in a dangerous graveyard. What the hell was she doing out here, anyway?

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Quinn asked, taking a few steps toward Rachel so she was standing just a foot from her. "Do you just like troll the graveyard at night or something."

Rachel frowned, looked to the side, and looked like she was about to cry. Quinn rolled her eyes and followed Rachel's gaze; it took her a second to notice it, but when she did, she felt like someone had punched her in the gut.

Hiram Berry

"Oh," Quinn said upon realization.

"What was that, Quinn?" Rachel whispered as a tear streaked down her cheek.

"Go home, Berry," Quinn demanded.

Rachel huffed. "I didn't walk all this way just to walk back. First, you're going to tell me what I saw. Why are you fighting with some woman, in the middle of the night, in a graveyard?"

"You walked here?" Quinn angrily asked. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

Rachel scoffed. "Don't pretend you care for my wellbeing."

"God help me," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel by her arm and pulling her along.

"Ouch," Rachel said, trying to retract her arm from Quinn's grasp, but it was too strong. "Where are you taking me?"

"To my car," Quinn said loudly, bending down and grabbing her bag. "I'm taking you home."

"But I just got here!" Rachel protested.

"And now you're going home," Quinn said, opening the passenger door and pushing Rachel inside.

As soon as she got into the car, Rachel's eyes were glued onto her. "What's a Slayer?"

"Nothing," Quinn replied.

Rachel frowned. "Why did that woman turn into dust?"

"No idea what you're talking about," Quinn lied.

"Yes you do!" Rachel yelled. "I'm not crazy; I know what I saw!"

Quinn stayed silent and Rachel crossed her arms, huffing. "How do you even know where I live?"

"The Cheerios might have TPed your house last year," Quinn answered.

"I knew that was you guys," Rachel mumbled.

When Quinn pulled into Rachel's drive, they both got out of the car.

"Do you really need to walk me to my door?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Quinn replied, following beside Rachel until she was right at the front door.

"Are you going to follow me in too?" Rachel asked rolling her eyes.

"Listen to me," Quinn said, pulling Rachel's arm so the brunette was facing her. "Do _not_ go out after dark again, okay, and especially not alone to a graveyard."

Rachel was looking at the blonde like she was crazy. "Whatever you say, Quinn."

"No." Quinn pulled her back. "Promise me."

"If I promise, will you let go of my arm?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Quinn replied.

"Fine, then," Rachel said, pulling her arm away. "I promise I won't go out after dark even though I think you've lost your mind. And are you ever going to tell me what the hell I saw back there?"

Quinn opened the door for her and pushed her inside. "No."

With that, Quinn shut the door in Rachel's face and walked back to her car. She knew Rachel would never give it up, but she was going to deal with it another day. Maybe with some luck, Rachel would wake up thinking it was all a dream like Quinn had.

* * *

><p>"Why the hell is that Hobbit staring at you?"<p>

Quinn followed Santana's eyes and saw that Rachel was standing near her locker, staring in Quinn's direction. It made the blonde uneasy because Rachel clearly had not forgotten what she saw the previous night. She knew Rachel wouldn't forget, but part of her had still hoped. With everything going on it her life, she really didn't need Rachel questioning her every chance she got. Mostly she was wondering why of all people it had to be Rachel Berry there in that graveyard. Clearly the universe was mocking her.

Quinn shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Why don't I go do something about it then?" Santana said, smiling.

Quinn tried grabbing Santana's arm to stop her, but the girl was already off and walking down the hall. "Santana! Brittany, we have to stop her."

Brittany looked at her and frowned. "When did you start caring about Rachel?"

"Please, Brittany!" Quinn begged. "Just do something to get Santana away from her."

Quinn was terrified that Rachel would spill what she saw; she didn't know if anyone would believe it, but it could certainly make her life more difficult. She knew if roles had been reversed, she would be using the knowledge to her advantage. If she was picked on every single day and suddenly had dirt on the most popular girl in school, there would be no way she wouldn't blackmail her. Maybe Rachel was better than that, but she sure as hell didn't want to push her.

Brittany nodded, seeing the panic in Quinn's eyes, and started walking after Santana. Quinn stayed by her locker and watched them, too afraid to go over.

Santana was already at Rachel; Quinn didn't know what her friend was saying to the brunette, but Rachel's face told her enough. As soon as Brittany approached them, she whispered something in Santana's ear and the girl stopped talking. Quinn had no idea what Brittany said to her, but Santana linked arms with the blonde and they started walking away together.

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief and smiled—until Rachel looked over and she was filled with dread again.

Rachel closed her locker and started walking over to where Quinn was standing. The blonde thought about making a run for it, but her feet wouldn't seem to move. Instead, she quickly turned to her locker and pretended to be looking for something.

"Can we talk?"

"No," Quinn said, grabbing her Geometry book.

"We really need to talk," Rachel insisted.

"There's nothing to talk about!" Quinn whispered loudly, slamming her locker shut.

Undeterred, Rachel followed Quinn down the hall. "When I got home last night, I did a bit of research online and I found some very interesting websites. Do you want to know what I found?"

Quinn internally groaned, but stayed quiet, with her eyes facing forward; she hoped if she ignored the brunette long enough, she would take a hint and go away.

"I'll take your silence as a yes," Rachel said and Quinn rolled her eyes. "It was a very interesting website on the supernatural. It was actually a database of sorts and you could click on different descriptions and it would tell you what you're dealing with. So, I looked up things that explode into dust. There were several options, but then I remember what you had in your hand last night and I realized I was being stupid because it was so obvious you were fighting a vam—"

Quinn quickly clamped her hand over Rachel's mouth, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into the nearest bathroom. She nearly threw her through the door and was happy to see it was empty.

"Well that was rude," Rachel said, rubbing her arm.

"Listen to me," Quinn said, getting in Rachel's face. "You are going to shut the hell up about this right now. You're going to forget what you saw last night and you are _never_ going to tell anyone else. Do you understand that?"

Rachel smirked. "I notice you're not actually denying anything I said."

"Oh my God," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Could you be any more infuriating?"

"The only thing I really don't understand is what a Slayer is," Rachel continued. "All I really found were websites for some metal band and a couple references to some video games."

Quinn rubbed her temples, sighing. "I swear, if you tell anyone about this—"

"Do you really think I'm going to tell people?" Rachel asked. "If I was going to do that, don't you think I would have done it first thing this morning? Besides, who is even going to believe me when I say I saw Quinn Fabray, head cheerleader and most popular girl at school, kill a vampire? I don't know what they would believe less— that vampires exist or that you were in a graveyard, fighting. Either way, people are going to think I'm crazy; it would be my word against yours and I don't think anyone would be taking my side on the issue."

"Well—thanks then," Quinn said, relieved that her secret was safe for now.

Rachel nodded. "Now can you tell me what a Slayer is?"

"No," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "Get to class, Berry."

Quinn walked to the door shaking her head as Rachel called out to her, "I am going to find out whether you tell me or not!"

* * *

><p>"Ooh, a slide!" Brittany clapped in excitement. "C'mon!"<p>

"We'll be at the slide," Santana said to Quinn as she was pulled along by the excited blonde.

Quinn smirked. "Have fun."

"You showed up," Puck said, coming over to Quinn and putting his arm around her shoulder.

"I did," Quinn said, pushing his arm off.

"Why do you have to be like that?" he asked, leering at her.

"In case you forgot, I just broke up with your best friend last week," Quinn reminded him. "Isn't it against some guy code to move in that quickly?"

"Finn doesn't care," Puck said, shrugging.

"Still not interested," Quinn said, trying to walk away.

"Come on," Puck said, catching up to her and trying to put his arm around her waist. "We'd be _so_ hot together; you can't deny it."

"Puck, it's never going to happen," Quinn responded. "I know what you do with the girls you date—and I use that term loosely. You sleep with anything that moves and I'm not going to be another one of your conquests. In fact, I feel like I'm going to catch something just standing next to you."

"That hurts," Puck replied.

Quinn laughed. "Sure it does."

"Here," Puck said, walking past one of the picnic tables and grabbing a wine cooler. "Have this; it'll loosen you up a bit."

Puck wiggled his eyebrows and Quinn rolled her eyes as he walked away. She set the wine cooler back where it came from and looked around at everyone. It seemed like most of McKinley had turned out for Puck's end of the summer bash. He had the party every year on the first Saturday of September, at his uncle's lake house.

Quinn suspected the sole purpose of it was to get the girls at school drunk and half naked.

It was the one party of the year that everyone was invited to, but unless you were a jock or Cheerio, most didn't bother showing up. However, Quinn did notice that Tina, the loud mouth diva girl, and that Hummel kid had shown up.

Puck had walked over to the barbeque, where several other guys were laughing as they watched the girls prance around in the smallest bikinis they could find. Quinn rolled her eyes and was suddenly reminded why she said every year that she was never coming to this thing again. Next year she was really going to have to remember not to come.

"Quinn!" Brittany was yelling at her from the edge of the lake. "Come in!"

"Maybe in a bit," Quinn yelled back.

She walked over to Santana, who was sitting at the dock, with her legs dangling just above the water.

"Why aren't you in there?" Quinn asked.

"And mess up my hair?" Santana said, scoffing.

Quinn laughed. "I'm surprised Brittany didn't pout until you went in."

"I don't do _everything_ Brittany wants," Santana replied.

"Sure you don't," Quinn said, grinning.

"I don't!" Santana insisted.

"Whatever you say," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Bitch," Santana mumbled.

Quinn smiled to herself; it was funny and almost kind of cute how whipped Santana was when it came to Brittany. It was the one thing Quinn could always give her a hard time about. Santana would deny it, but Quinn knew she was completely in love with the blonde. She just wished Santana would realize it and stop worrying so much about what everyone else would think.

"Would you take your no neck self and leave us alone?"

Quinn looked to the edge of the party and saw a guy in a letterman jacket standing next to Tina and the Hummel kid—she thought his name was Kurt—standing there with his hands on his hips. She didn't know what was going on, but by the look on their faces, it was nothing good.

This was why the losers of McKinley didn't show up, and if they did, it was only once.

She sighed as she watched Tina push the guy away. "I'll be right back," she said to Santana as she stood up and dusted her shorts off.

Quinn made her way through the throng of people, which was easier said than done. Several times people tried to stop her to talk and she would politely—and sometimes not so politely—brush them off.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked when she finally reached the group she was trying to get to.

"I was just welcoming these guys to the party," the jock said.

Quinn didn't recognize him, but judging by the hair, he was one of the hockey team. "Yeah, well—why don't you go away before you make an even bigger ass of yourself?"

Kurt and diva girl were standing there with their mouths agape.

"Since when do you stick up for losers, Fabray?"

"Since some dumbass guy decided to harass a girl," Quinn replied. "You looked like you were a second away from groping her and I'm sure she did not appreciate it."

"I get it," the jock said, walking toward Quinn. "You want me all for yourself. I think I can arrange that."

Quinn watched him, disbelievingly, as he put his arm around her. "Remove your arm or I will remove it for you."

"Better?" Quinn felt his arm slide down to her butt.

Quinn smiled at him before elbowing him in the gut. When he doubled over in pain,Quinn grabbed him by the back of his jacket and threw him several feet into the water.

"Better?" she asked, smiling sweetly at him.

"Wow," Kurt said, walking next to her and staring at the soaking wet jock. "How did you throw him like that?"

Quinn's eyes widened for a moment. "Oh—Cheerios training."

"Impressive," Kurt said, giving her a smile. "Did you see that, Mercedes!"

So that was diva girl's name.

"Thanks," Tina said, shyly approaching Quinn.

Quinn gave her a smile. "Don't mention it."

"You really didn't have to do that, though," Tina said.

"I know," Quinn said. "Just like you didn't have to help me, but you did."

They smiled at each other and Quinn walked back to where she'd left Santana; her friend was staring at her with a mix of disbelief and astonishment.

"Did I just see you throw Cooper into the lake?" Santana asked.

Quinn shrugged. "Is that who that was?"

"Since when do you throw members of the hockey team into lakes?" Santana questioned.

"He put his hands on me," Quinn replied. "I did warn him."

Quinn's phone started buzzing and she pulled it out of her pocket to see her mom calling. "Sorry, it's my mother."

"Tell her I say hello," Santana said, smirking.

Quinn rolled her eyes; Santana knew Quinn's mother hated her. "Hello?"

"Quinn, honey, I need you home right now."

Quinn frowned. "I told you I was going to Puck's party today."

"Your father wants you home."

"Fine," Quinn said, sighing. "Bye.

She most definitely did not need her father hounding her, so it was always easier to go along with whatever he wanted. Plus, she'd really rather not be here.

"I have to go," Quinn said softly.

"But you just got here," Santana replied.

Quinn sighed again. "I know, but she was calling because my dad wants me home for some reason."

"You know, someone really needs to remove that stick from his ass," Santana replied.

"Yeah, yeah," Quinn said, smiling. "I'll see you Monday."

"Want me to do it next time I see him?" Santana shouted after her.

* * *

><p>"So I've been doing some more research."<p>

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Good for you, Berry."

"Do you want to know what I found?" Rachel asked.

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway," Quinn replied.

Rachel smiled. "Well I didn't find a lot until late last night when I finally stumbled upon a site that made reference to the Slayer. While I have no way of knowing if anything I was reading was correct, it made for an interesting read. It said that the Slayer is imbued with superhuman powers and her goal is to stop the spread of evil in the world. When one dies, the next is called. The author of the website seems to think there's only one at a time, which really doesn't make any logical sense to me. If someone was going to give girls the power to fight evil, shouldn't they just give it to more than of them? I mean really, what can one girl really do? It also had information on girls that were believed to be previous Slayers, but it was all just conjecture."

Quinn opened her mouth and quickly closed it; this girl was definitely good at her research.

"So," Rachel said, grinning. "Was any of it correct?"

Quinn shrugged. "Still have no idea what you're talking about."

"You know I'm going to find out," Rachel replied. "I'm very persistent and I will not give up until I've found out the truth, so you should just tell me now and save us both the trouble."

Quinn shook her head and started walking down the hall, ignoring the brunette that she knew was following her.

"So how long have you been the Slayer?" Rachel asked, lowering her voice when a few students went by. "And who else knows? I imagine Brittany and Santana do since they're your best friends. I guess that means I could go question them about it since you won't tell me anything. Or at least Brittany; Santana would probably hit me if I even got within a few yards of her. Brittany's nice, though, and would probably be willing to talk.

Quinn stopped walking and turned toward the ranting girl. "Oh my God! Will you just stop talking? Brittany and Santana don't know anything so do _not_ go asking them. The last thing I need is Santana trying to figure out what you're talking about because she's even worse than you when she wants to know something."

Rachel smiled. "Does this mean I'm the only one that knows?"

"Q, my office right now!" Sue was standing in the middle of the hall with her arms crossed.

"Yes, Coach," Quinn said, never so happy to see her."Gotta go."

Quinn left Rachel behind and followed Sue into her office. Her Watcher was already sitting behind the desk, eyeing her when she came in and sat down.

"Cheerios practice is cancelled today because that insipid Williams girl gave the flu to half the other girls," Sue said, shaking her head. "You have training right after school. Don't be late."

"Right," Quinn said, nodding.

Sue stared at her. "You seem awfully agreeable today."

"Just having a good day," Quinn lied, shrugging.

The truth was, Quinn was afraid of what she would say if she found out Rachel had seen her the other night. Sue had stressed the importance of no one finding out and then the next day, Rachel saw her. Quinn hadn't told her Watcher yet since she was hoping Rachel would keep her mouth shut and she wouldn't need to. Quinn really didn't want an hour long lecture of how she was the worst Slayer in the history of Slayers, which she could see Sue giving her.

Plus, she was just really happy right now that Sue had saved her from Rachel's interrogation, so she was likely to happily agree to anything right now.

"Stop looking so happy," Sue ordered. "It's making me feel queasy."

"Yes, Coach," Quinn said as she got up to leave the room.

As soon as she left the office, Quinn nearly collided with someone, causing her books to fly out of her hands. She reached down to pick up her notebook and English book from the floor.

"Sorry, Britt," she said as soon as she looked up and saw it was her friend that she'd run into.

Brittany nodded, but remained quiet.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

"I'm fine," Brittany replied.

Quinn frowned; she'd never seen her friend like this before. Usually she was chipper—too chipper—and nearly vibrating with happiness. Right now she was expressionless and had no emotion in her voice, which unnerved Quinn.

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked.

Brittany nodded and started walking away without so much as a goodbye. Quinn watched her retreat down the hall and shook her head, wondering what Santana had done now to make the blonde so catatonic.

"Santana!" she said, causing the girl to turn around.

"Quinn!" Santana mocked; Quinn smacked her on the arm and scowled. "Ouch, what the hell was that for?"

"What did you do to Brittany?" Quinn asked loudly.

"What do you mean?" Santana asked. "I haven't even seen her yet."

Quinn frowned. "Did you two get in a fight last night?"

"What? No!" Santana said, rubbing her arm. "Okay seriously, Fabray, when the hell did you learn to hit so hard."

Quinn felt slightly guilty at this; she still wasn't used to how much strength she had. "Clearly something is wrong with her and you're the only one who ever makes her not happy."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "I swear I didn't do anything to Brittany. We just watched a few movies last night and then she went home. She was perfectly fine when she left."

Quinn could usually tell when Santana was lying and she didn't appear to be right now. "Fine, but something else must be wrong with her because when I saw her she was—"

"Sad?" Santana asked.

"No," Quinn said, frowning. "She actually wasn't really anything."

Santana scoffed. "So you hit me because Brittany was neutral."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "When was the last time you saw Brittany show no emotion? So go figure out what you did and make it better."

"Why do you automatically assume it was something _I_ did?" Santana asked.

"Because it's always something you did," Quinn replied. "Now go fix."

"Fine," Santana said, huffing. "But I swear it wasn't me."

The bell rang and Quinn gave Santana one last scowl; she didn't know what Santana had done, but she knew she was responsible somehow, and even if she wasn't responsible, she was the one person that could probably make it better.

When Quinn walked into her English class, she took her seat in front of Puck and waited for the inevitable; he always made some lewd comment that she would smack him for.

When he didn't say anything, she turned around and asked him, "Are you okay? I've been here for a whole thirty seconds and you haven't made a comment about any part of my anatomy."

"I'm fine," Puck tonelessly answered.

"First Brittany and now you," Quinn mumbled, turning back around.

Quinn suddenly wondered if maybe she had actually hurt Puck's feelings the other day, but it was nothing worse than anything else she had said to him before. Everything she said to him always just rolled off his back. He would flirt and she would reject; it was the nature of their relationship.

Tina sat down in the seat next to Quinn and smiled shyly at her. "Hey."

Well at least someone seemed to be acting normal today. "Hey, Tina."

"Thanks again for the other day," Tina said.

"Don't mention it," Quinn said, smiling.

"Since when did you start befriending the weird goth chick?" Santana asked, walking to her seat.

Quinn sighed as she watched Tina shrink into her seat. "Leave her alone."

Santana looked shocked. "Seriously, Q?"

"Leave it," Quinn said.

"Why are you—"

"I told you to leave it," Quinn stated.

"Whatever," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Stop thinking so much and just react," Sue demanded.<p>

Quinn groaned as she stood up and then decided to drop onto the mat; her muscles ached and she didn't even want to think about how many bruises she had at this point.

She was used to Sue's sadistic training techniques, but this was going to a whole other level. She had set up a rigorous obstacle course that Quinn had yet to make it through. Every time she fell or struggled, she was forced to start again. After trying to make it up a ten foot wall for the twentieth time, she thought her arms were just going to fall off.

"Are you going to get up or are you going to lay there?" Sue asked, sounding annoyed.

Quinn sighed. "I'm going to lay here."

"I thought you were better than that." Sue was looking down at her, shaking her head.

"I can't move," Quinn whined.

"Oh for the love of—" Sue stuck her hand out and Quinn reluctantly took it to get up. "I expect more from my Cheerios captain and _definitely_ more from my Slayer."

Quinn scoffed and opened her mouth to say something.

"Training tomorrow," Sue demanded, cutting her off before Quinn could say anything else. "Six a.m. sharp."

Quinn nodded in acknowledgement. "Got it."

"Patrol tonight," Sue said as she walked toward the door.

"Where at?" Quinn asked.

Sue shrugged. "Wherever you want; I'm sure all the graveyards are crawling with vampires."

"Uhm, Coach." Quinn knew this was probably a terrible time to bring this up, but Rachel had been following her around all day and it was only a matter of time before Sylvester figured it out. "Someone saw me slay a vampire." She was purposefully leaving out that she had been hiding this fact from her for days.

Sue was staring at her with a blank expression. "Excuse me?"

Quinn flinched in anticipation of what was coming. "I didn't know she was behind me."

"What does she know?" Sue's voice was deadly.

"A lot," Quinn admitted. "The vampire might have mentioned I'm the Slayer and now she keeps asking me about it and has been doing research into it."

Sue closed her eyes. "What did you tell her?"

"Nothing," Quinn quickly said. "I usually just ignore her or play dumb."

"Who is it?" Sue asked.

Quinn sighed. "Rachel Berry."

Quinn could see the vain in Sue's forehead and knew she was angrier than she'd ever seen her. "Whatever you do, do not confirm anything she thinks she knows."

"I won't," Quinn said, nodding.

Sue was mumbling to herself as she left the room; Quinn was pretty sure she heard the words unacceptable and incompetent, but it was hard to tell. Quinn was just happy that Sue was leaving without yelling at her; she had really expected much worse since she had seen some of the other Cheerios get chewed out for even minor things. If here was something Sue Sylvester wasn't known for, it was her patience and tolerance for other people's failures.

Quinn glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly ten o'clock. No wonder she was so dead on her feet; she had been training for over six hours. She never figured being a Slayer would be easy, but this was really taking a toll on her. She barely slept anymore and was behind in almost all her classes. Between school, practice, training, and patrolling, she didn't have the time to do anything else.

Sighing, she grabbed her phone from her backpack and noticed she had several missed calls from Santana, as well as a text that simply said 'call me, bitch'. Quinn threw the phone back into her bag; Santana could wait until tomorrow. Right now she had to worry about killing some vampires and not dying in the process.

* * *

><p>Quinn had already been in the training room for over an hour. She had been working on her endurance since Sylvester told her she was failing in that department. Her coach had some kind of meeting, though, and had left her alone to continue with her training. Quinn got bored after a while and decided to grab a crossbow; Sue wouldn't let her touch any of the weapons and she had been anxious to try them out. She was becoming proficient at hand to hand combat, but using weapons just sounded like more fun.<p>

Currently, she was using the wooden post at the corner of the room as a target. So far she had hit the wall twice and shot another into the opposite side of the room as she was trying to load the arrow. Needless to say, it was not going very well.

"Wow," she heard a voice say behind her.

She whipped around and saw Rachel standing there, mouth agape.

"Wh-what the hell are you doing in here?" Quinn asked, the crossbow hanging limply by her side.

"I followed you the other day and watched you come in here," Rachel replied, looking around the room. "This is amazing."

"Rachel!" Quinn said, bringing the brunette's attention to her. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Oh, right," Rachel replied. "I saw you come in here the other day, so I decided I would come in here and see what you were doing. I got here early this morning and the door was locked of course, but I was hiding in the locker room when I saw Miss Sylvester and I caught the door before it closed. It's a very nice setup you have here."

"How long have you been watching me?" Quinn wondered.

"Since she left," Rachel replied. "You're really terrible at the crossbow; you might want to practice with something else before you shoot yourself."

Sue was going to kill her when she found out—or maybe she'd just kill Rachel.

"Does this mean Sue knows who you are?" Rachel asked. "I guess that's a stupid question—she must since she's been in here. I mean, it'd be kind of hard to explain a room full of weapons wouldn't it?"

"Rachel, you need to go," Quinn said, walking up to the brunette. "You _can't_ be in here. Sylvester is going to kill me if she finds out; she's already mad that you saw what you saw the other night and I don't need her finding out you've been in here. She could be back at any time, so can you please go."

"I will if you tell me the truth," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn narrowed her eyes at the girl as she weighed her options. She could deny everything and run the risk of Rachel getting mad and telling everyone; she could lie, but she didn't think Rachel would believe any lie she can up with; or she could just tell her the truth since she seemed to know almost everything anyway. The fourth option she thought of was killing Rachel, finding some place to stuff her body, and hoping no one ever noticed she was gone, but she didn't think that was a very viable option.

Although if Rachel didn't stop grinning at her like that, she just might go with option four.

Quinn sighed. "Why, out of all the people in this school, did it have to be _you_ that saw me? You are so annoyingly persistent that I really just want to hit you right now."

"Be glad it was me that saw you and not anyone else," Rachel said, shaking her head. "If it had been anyone else, the whole school would have known by the next morning, so be glad it was someone that can actually keep a secret."

"Let's go somewhere else," Quinn said, walking over to the wall and hanging the crossbow up. "I don't want Coach coming in here and seeing you because knowing you, this is going to take a while, and I'd rather get yelled at for leaving training early than for you being in here."

"Let's go to the auditorium," Rachel said. "I think I'm the only person who ever goes in there, so it'll be empty."

Quinn nodded and grabbed her backpack from beside the door. Rachel opened the door and Quinn followed her out of the locker room, down several hallways, and into the large auditorium.

"Wow," Quinn said, looking around. "I didn't even know this was here."

"It's my favorite place at school," Rachel said as she led Quinn toward the stage. "No one ever comes in here to bother me. I can stand on stage and sing with no one judging me or telling me how worthless I am."

"You just have to ignore anything Santana says," Quinn replied. "I know she can be a real bitch, but it's actually nothing personal. She's like that with everyone that isn't Britt and you are just an easy target for her. As for me—I'm sorry."

Rachel nodded. "It's fine—well, it's not, and while I really would love to talk about it, it's not what we're here to discuss right now."

"Right." Quinn sat down on the edge of the stage and Rachel did the same, sitting next to her. "What do you want to know?"

"Is the research I've done correct?" Rachel asked first.

"Pretty much," Quinn replied.

"How did this all happen?" Rachel asked. "_When_ did this all happen?"

"I just found out last week," Quinn started. "I was walking home after practice and I thought I heard a scream from the graveyard I was walking by and when I went in, Sylvester was there; she gave me a stake, told me there was a vampire behind me, and basically told me to go at it. The next day, she told me I'm the new Slayer."

"So there is only one?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded. "'One girl in all the world' as Sue said."

"And you're here to fight vampires?"

"Not just vampires," Quinn replied. "There are apparently a lot of things in this world that we don't know about."

Rachel shuddered. "If that database I found was correct—there are thousands of demons and creatures out there and most of them were not very pleasant."

"And it's my job to fight them," Quinn said, smiling sadly.

"What is Coach Sylvester's role in this?" Rachel asked.

"She's a Watcher," Quinn answered. "Basically she's here to guide and train me and try to keep me alive as long as possible. As you can imagine, Slayers aren't known for their long, carefree lives."

"At least she has you training," Rachel said.

Quinn nodded. "Every day after school; sometimes in the morning if we don't have Cheerios practice and then I go patrolling a lot of nights."

"Patrolling?" Rachel asked.

"Patrolling graveyards," Quinn replied. "Like I was doing the other night. Her strategy, like with all other things, seems to be to throw me in the deep end and hope I don't die. She wants me out there, fighting because she says I won't really learn any other way. The training has mostly been about getting up my endurance and strength."

"Hence being terrible with the crossbow," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn laughed. "Yeah, she hasn't really gotten around to teaching me how to use the weapons yet. When she left this morning, I figured what the hell, she'll never know."

"Except when she sees the holes in the wall," Rachel pointed out.

"I wasn't really anticipating being _that_ bad at it," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel smiled as she watched the blonde. "Who all knows that you're the Slayer?"

"Including you and Sylvester," Quinn said. "Two people."

"I'm the only person, other than your Watcher, to know?" Rachel asked.

The shock was evident on the brunette's face and it made Quinn smile for some reason. "You weren't exactly supposed to find out—no one is supposed to know. If everyone knows who I am—well, most people would just think I'm crazy, but if the wrong things find out, they'll probably come after me before I'm ready. People don't know or chose not to know that this town isn't exactly normal."

Rachel frowned. "What do you mean by not normal?"

"Lima is on a Hellmouth," Quinn replied. "Basically it means we're on one of the mouths to hell and all kinds of bad things are drawn the energy here. That's why there are so many vampires around and why this town has so many mysterious deaths."

"My dad," Rachel whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes before they could fall. "The medical examiner said they didn't know what kill him—they just said he was attacked by some unidentified animal. I'm guessing it wasn't an animal."

Quinn sighed, frowning. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Rachel said, shaking her head. "How can people not see what's going on?"

Quinn shrugged. "Did you ever notice anything strange going on? I mean, six kids died last year, in our grade alone, but I never really thought a thing about it because they always acted like there were logical reasons for each of the deaths. Sylvester thinks it's a government cover up, but she thinks everything is a government cover up."

"For once I'm inclined to agree with her," Rachel stated.

The bell rang, causing both girls to jump; Rachel sighed and leapt down from the edge of the stage. "Thank you for finally telling me the truth. As I said before, I promise not to tell anyone."

"Thanks for keeping it a secret," Quinn said, smiling. "And thanks for not freaking out when you saw me the other night."

"Oh I was freaking out," Rachel said, smiling back. "I'm just very good at appearing calm when I need to. Listen, Quinn—if you ever need my help with anything, let me know, okay? I hate the thought of you having no one to help you and being out there all on your own."

"Believe me, I hope to _never_ have to involve anyone else in this," Quinn replied. "It's bad enough that my life is over; I'm not going to subject anyone else to it."

Rachel nodded. "I still stand by my statement."

"Thanks, Rachel," Quinn said, causing the brunette to beam at her.

* * *

><p>"Why the hell didn't you call me back?" Santana said as she stormed into the room and huffily sat on the stool next to Quinn.<p>

Several students jumped or cowered in their seats at the sound of an angry Santana, but Quinn casually looked up from her Chemistry book at the fuming brunette. Anytime she didn't immediately call Santana back, she would get yelled at, so Quinn was very much used to this happening and it no longer fazed her.

"I'm sorry," Quinn said through a yawn. "I was really busy last night."

"First you yell at me for something I didn't do, and then you don't even answer your damn phone when I try calling you about it." Santana crossed her arms. "Some friend you are."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I already said I was sorry. Now, are you going to tell me what you were calling about or are you going to pout."

Santana scoffed. "I am not pouting."

"It looks like it to me," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Can you quit being a bitch and let me talk?" Santana asked, scowling.

"I'm sorry, Santana, you have my full attention," Quinn said, repressing another eye roll.

"Good," Santana replied. "So I talked to Britt last night."

"And?" Quinn asked.

"And you're right," Santana replied. "She is acting really un-Britt like and I have no idea why. And before you blame me again, I repeat—I did nothing to her. I have no idea what's going on with her, but I went over to her house last night and she just sat there all night."

Quinn frowned. "She just sat there?"

Santana nodded. "The whole time I was there. She only said a few words to me, so I thought she might be mad at me, but even when she's mad, she usually looks like she's going to cry or something. I even put in her favorite movie to try and cheer her up, but she didn't laugh at all during it."

Their teacher walked in and Quinn whispered, "What do you think is wrong with her?"

Santana shrugged. "If I knew, why'd I be talking to you about it?"

Quinn shrugged and tried to focus on what her teacher was saying, but it was difficult. She was worried about Brittany; if Santana couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, what chance did she have? Santana knew the blonde better than anyone and she seemed just as clueless as Quinn, which really worried her. Brittany wasn't very good at hiding her emotions and she definitely wasn't good at not talking. This was especially true when it came to Santana, so hearing that Brittany had ignored the brunette didn't make any sense.

"Psst!"

Quinn looked behind her and saw Rachel trying to discretely motion to her, but being Rachel, she actually looked like she was having a seizure and several other people were looking on in interest. Quinn rolled her eyes and mouthed, "What?"

Instead of saying anything, Rachel tossed a folded up piece of paper in her direction. Quinn looked back to see if the teacher had noticed anything, but he was facing away from her, writing on the whiteboard. Luckily Santana hadn't noticed anything either, but Quinn suspected it was only because her mind was on Brittany. Quinn quickly reached down and grabbed the piece of paper from the floor and hurriedly sat back up, hoping no one had noticed her. Thankfully, neither her teacher nor Santana had noticed anything.

When Quinn opened the note, she read Rachel's short message, which was written in the brunette's neat, loopy handwriting.

_Can you stay behind? I need to talk to you._

Quinn looked back at Rachel and nodded to her.

When the bell rang, Quinn hoped Santana would go on to lunch and not notice she was hanging back, but she wasn't that lucky.

"Are you coming?" Santana asked, standing by the door and looking rather impatient with her.

"Go on, I need to call my mom about something," Quinn lied.

"Whatever," Santana said before walking off.

Rachel had been bending down, pretending to tie her nonexistent shoelaces, but stood up the moment Santana left the room.

"What is it, Berry?" Quinn asked.

"I couldn't help but overhear you and Santana discussing Brittany," Rachel replied. "I'm afraid to say she isn't the only person at this school that has been exhibiting strange behavior. Both Mercedes and Kurt have been acting rather strange this week as well. At first I thought they were angry with me over something, but after hearing you two discussing Brittany, I'm starting to suspect it might be something else entirely."

"What kind of strange behavior?" Quinn asked.

"While Mercedes is normally very civil and talks to me, she completely ignored all my attempts to talk to her yesterday," Rachel replied. "And Kurt is normally very exuberant and dramatic, but he didn't say a word when Mr. Schuester gave me the solo in Glee Club yesterday. Actually, neither of them did, which is completely unprecedented. Usually they both fight me for every solo even though I'm clearly the superior vocalist."

"So what are you suggesting?" Quinn asked.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that three people are acting strange," Rachel replied.

"Four," Quinn corrected, thinking back to the day before.

"Four?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"Puck," Quinn replied. "He didn't try hitting on me yesterday, which is unheard of for him."

"So four people, that we know of, are behaving strangely," Rachel said, pacing in front of Quinn a bit. "I _really_ don't think this is a coincidence; I mean, isn't it possible that something supernatural is going on?"

"You think it's something supernatural?" Quinn asked.

"You don't think it is?" Rachel asked.

"I mean, yeah, it's possible," Quinn replied. "What could it be though?"

"I'm not sure, but I can do some research into it," Rachel replied. "I have that monster database bookmarked on my laptop at home. What if I run home after school, grab it, and meet you back here after your training?"

"Okay," Quinn replied. "You can come straight here, though; Sylvester has the flu so practice is cancelled and she told me to train on my own today."

"I'll get back here as fast as possible," Rachel replied. "I'll just tell Daddy that I forgot something for Glee. Lately he's been kind of—off. He won't really ask any questions if I'm out late."

"Sounds like a plan," Quinn said, smiling sadly at the brunette.

* * *

><p>Quinn was pacing around the training room, waiting on Rachel to show up. She had grabbed a book from one of the bookshelves that sat in the corner of the room and tried looking through it for anything that sounded like what was happening at school. Sue had quite a few books on demons and Quinn was hoping to find something in it, but figured Rachel's database would be a lot more helpful. It couldn't hurt trying it the old school way while she waited, though.<p>

At a quarter til four, she finally heard a knock on the door followed by Rachel saying, "It's me."

"Quick," Quinn said as she opened the door and ushered Rachel into the room. "No you saw you, did they?"

"Who would possibly see me?" Rachel asked. "Do people often hang around the Cheerios locker room?"

"You'd be surprised," Quinn replied. "But it's mostly just pervy teenage boys hoping to catch a glimpse of one of us naked."

"What's that?" Rachel asked, nodding to the book in Quinn's hand.

Quinn held the front up so Rachel could see it. "One of Sylvester's books from when she was in school or in training to be a Watcher—or something." Quinn shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention at the time."

"Anything so far?" Rachel asked.

"If by something you mean a demon that shoots out paralyzing snot, then yes," Quinn said, scrunching her face is disgust. "I mean really, how is that useful? At least if you're going to be a demon, you should have some cool ability like breathing fire or going into people's minds or something."

Rachel laughed. "It sounds like you've thought a lot about this."

"Very funny," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "Come on; let's see if you can do any better."

"Gladly," Rachel said, pulling her laptop out of her bag and sitting down on the nearby bench.

Quinn sat down next to her and looked at the screen. "Find-a-monster dot com?" Quinn laughed and shook her head. "Couldn't they have come up with a better name?"

"Well what would you call it?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," Quinn answered, shrugging. "Just something a little less lame. I guess it could be something worse, though, like Demons, Demons, Demons."

Rachel ignored the comment and clicked on the advanced search. "If you know the name of the monster, you can type it in, but since we obviously don't know what's causing this, we input the effects we're seeing."

"So what do we put in?" Quinn asked. "Personality change?"

"We can try that," Rachel said, typing into the box and hitting the search button.

Quinn's jaw dropped. "Four hundred, thirty-seven results? How the hell many things are there in this world?"

"I told you there are a lot," Rachel replied. "This database lists tens of thousands and I doubt that's a complete list of them."

Quinn rubbed at her temples. "Is there anything else we can put in to narrow it down? I really don't want to have to go through hundreds of web pages."

"Emotional change?" Quinn asked.

Rachel added it into the search and it returned two-hundred, ninety-three results; they both looked at the screen and sighed.

"At least it narrowed it down a little," Rachel said, shrugging. "We'll just go through them one by one and see if anything pops out at us."

Several hours later and they were barely a third of the way through; they were both getting restless and frustrated at still having found nothing. Quinn had long ago given up sitting still and had started pacing around the room while Rachel read the descriptions out loud to her.

"Next," Quinn requested.

"You guys should really think about getting a couch in here," Rachel said, shifting around. "This bench is not the most comfortable for prolonged sitting."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Can you please focus? I'd like to get home sometime tonight."

"We could stop and then tomorrow we could pick up where we left off," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn shook her head. "I can't; this could be something bad and I have to stop it before it gets worse. This thing is affecting Brittany and I can't let anything happen to her."

"We'll figure it out," Rachel promised. "Okay, let's stop and think for a second. When did all of this start?"

"Monday," Quinn replied. "Santana said Britt was perfectly fine Sunday night, and by Monday, she was acting weird."

"Okay so what happened over the weekend that could explain it?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "I would probably have to call Santana and ask—Puck's party." Quinn stopped pacing and slapped herself in the forehead. "The lake—Puck had a party at the lake. Puck, Brittany, Mercedes, and Kurt were all there—but so were Santana and I, but we're both fine."

Rachel frowned. "Did they all do something that you two didn't?"

"I don't know," Quinn replied. "I actually wasn't there for long; my mom called me and said I needed to come home so I left right after I got there."

Rachel clicked on the search again. "I'm going to check for things in the water. Maybe you weren't there long enough o become affected and Santana somehow missed out on it too."

"Yes!" Quinn said, sitting down next to Rachel. "Santana wasn't swimming when she was there since she didn't want to mess up her hair. So maybe it's just the people that went in the water. Have you noticed other people acting funny this week?"

"Well, I haven't been slushied once, so yeah, that's a little weird," Rachel replied. "I didn't really think anything of it, but the hallways have been unnaturally quiet. I just assumed it was because half the Cheerios are out with the flu, but now that I think of it, even the football players have been quiet."

"That has to be it," Quinn said, excitedly.

"Three results," Rachel said, angling the laptop so Quinn could get a better look. "And you said it was at a lake?"

"Yeah," Quinn said, nodding.

Rachel smiled. "This is it then—it's the only freshwater one; the other two are in the ocean."

"A Vla'ala?" Quinn asked, looking at the screen. "Where the hell do they come up with these names?"

"The Vla'ala is known to live in deep, freshwater lakes," Rachel read aloud. "It releases parasites into the water that enter a victim's body and attach themselves to the host's amygdala. The parasite grows by feeding off the host's emotions, leaving them in a catatonic like state. The host is usually killed after several weeks when the parasite grows too big to be contained. Once the Vla'ala is free, it seeks out the nearest freshwater body, where it continued growing and starts releasing parasites of its own into the water."

"Does it say how to stop it?" Quinn asked.

Rachel scrolled down the page. "The only way to save a host is to kill the parent Vla'ala."

"Meaning I get to go swimming in Cohen Lake," Quinn stated.

"I propose we go first thing in the morning," Rachel said.

Quinn shook her head. "You're not going."

"What?" Rachel yelled, standing up. "Of course I'm going! It's too dangerous."

"Which is exactly why you're not going," Quinn replied.

"Quinn—"

"No," the blonde interrupted. "We're not arguing about it."

Rachel huffed, crossing her arms. "Fine."

* * *

><p>By the time the sun was rising the next morning, Quinn was already on the way to the lake. She went to the training room early and grabbed one of the swords that were hanging on the wall. She didn't know if it would really do any good, but she didn't know what else to use. It's not like she could shoot the crossbow at it even if she knew how to use the thing.<p>

Mostly, she was hoping to somehow lure it to dry land where she might actually stand a fighting chance.

When Quinn pulled up to the lake, it was completely deserted except for a couple ducks swimming across the surface. It looked so tranquil that it was hard to believe there was some demon hiding beneath the surface.

She turned off the ignition, popped the trunk, and stepped out of the car, grabbing the sword from the back seat before she closed the door.

She sighed, knowing there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

Quinn set the sword down on the hood of the car so she could pull her shirt off. She then slipped her shoes off and took her Cheerios shorts off, leaving her standing there in her bikini. It wasn't the ideal thing to be fighting a monster in, but she was going to have to swim, so the less clothes, the better. She was just thankful her parents had made her take swimming lessons when she was younger and that she spent so many summers at camp, where her favorite thing to do was swimming.

"So that's what you're going to use to kill it?"

Quinn whipped around to find Rachel standing there, intently watching her. "Rachel! I told you I was doing this alone."

Rachel shrugged. "Too bad; I'm here and I'm not leaving."

"This is going to be dangerous," Quinn stated, walking around the back of the car and grabbing an underwater flashlight from the trunk.

"Which is why I am not letting you do it on your own," Rachel replied. "I will stay away from the water, but I am going to be here in case you need help."

"Fine," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "But I'm not happy about it."

"I never assumed you would be," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn shivered and grabbed the sword. "Here goes nothing."

"What's your plan?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "Stab it and hope I don't die?"

"Excellent plan," Rachel said, clearly not amused.

"I thought so," Quinn said, smiling over her shoulder at the brunette. "If I don't come out, can you tell Sylvester this is all her fault and I'm coming back to haunt her ass?"

"I'll be sure to pass along the message," Rachel deadpanned as Quinn tossed her the keys to the car.

With one last look, Quinn dove into the lake and Rachel couldn't help but hold her breath. The blonde's head popped out after a few seconds and Rachel watched as she started swimming to the middle of the lake. Luckily the lake wasn't too huge or they definitely would have needed a boat for this and Rachel had no idea where to get one of those.

Quinn paused when she finally reached the middle of the lake and Rachel nervously watched her, knowing what she was about to do, and wondering if she would ever see her again. When Quinn dove under, Rachel walked closer to the edge of the water, but stayed out as she had promised she would.

The blonde has sent a few ripples when she dove under, but other than that it was calm, which Rachel found unsettling. She hated standing there, not being able to see what was happening underneath the surface.

And just how long could Quinn hold her breath?

Maybe extra lung capacity was part of the whole Slayer thing, but to Rachel it seemed like she'd already been down there an eternity and surely any normal person would have drowned by now. Of course, in Rachel's panicked state, maybe time was just moving at a completely different pace than in reality.

After a while, a few bubbles hit the surface, causing the brunette to jump; a few seconds later, Quinn's head hit the surface of the water and she was gasping for air.

"Are you okay?" Rachel yelled, but Quinn was already busy swimming back to the shore at a very hurried pace.

That's when Rachel noticed Quinn was not alone.

Rachel could only assume it was the Vla'ala that was chasing after Quinn. The website had a crude, black and white drawing off the thing, but in reality it was a grayish-blue color. She could only see a couple of weird tentacle like things sticking out of the water, so she could only imagine how big it was.

"Shit shit shit!" she said, before covering her mouth in surprise that that kind of language had come out.

She frantically looked around for anything that she could use as a weapon, but the only thing around was the car. Rachel ran to the opened trunk to see if maybe Quinn had brought another sword, but the only things in there were Quinn's Cheerios bag, an umbrella, and—

"Oh!" Rachel said, quickly grabbing the jumper cables from the trunk, before running around and popping the hood.

Quinn was almost to the edge of the lake when Rachel propped open the hood and connected the ends of the jumper cables to the battery. When Rachel looked over her shoulder, the Vla'ala had partly emerged out of the water and she couldn't help but shudder.

The picture definitely hadn't done the thing justice. It had tentacle like arms all over its body, several milky eyes on what she assumed was its face since they were right above a row of very sharp looking teeth, and its rounded body sat atop a long, eel like tail.

And Rachel could see the gash in the side of the Vla'ala's body where Quinn had struck it with the sword.

When Quinn finally made it out of the water, she looked exhausted, but she still managed to run over to where Rachel was standing.

"Here!" Rachel said, drawing Quinn's attention to what she was holding.

"You're a genius!" Quinn said, throwing the sword onto the ground and grabbing the two ends from Rachel.

"Tell me when," Rachel said, jumping into the car and putting the keys into the ignition.

Rachel watched as Quinn turned around and kicked the thing, sending it back several feet; it seemed to have slightly dazed it, giving Quinn enough time to attach one end of the jumper cables to one of the monster's tentacles.

With her free hand, Quinn grabbed the sword from the ground and took several swings but missed.

"C'mon," Rachel whispered as she watched the scene unfold.

The Vla'ala advanced on Quinn, snapping at her, but she managed to get in another kick, tripping herself in the process. She hit the ground with a loud thud, causing Rachel to flinch. Quinn groaned and rubbed her head where it had slammed into the ground.

"Put it on the dangly one!" Rachel yelled from inside the car.

Quinn looked at the underside of the Vla'ala and saw what Rachel was talking about. She scrambled closer to it, quickly attaching the other end of the jumper cable to the small tentacle.

"Now!" Quinn yelled, rushing to get away from the monster.

Rachel turned the key over and the Vla'ala immediately stopped moving toward Quinn and started convulsing.

The brunette got out of the car and looked at Quinn. "Do you think everyone is back to normal now?"

"Give it a few more minutes," Quinn said, watching the thing being fried in front of her. "Thanks for not listening to me and coming."

Rachel smiled at Quinn. "I thought I might be useful."

Quinn and Rachel watched the Vla'ala fall to the ground and stop moving.

"Do you think you should stab it or something?" Rachel asked.

"Turn the engine off," Quinn said as she walked over to it. "I'm pretty sure it's dead."

"You're positive?" Rachel asked, turning off the engine.

Quinn poked it several times with the end of the sword. "Yeah—it's crispy."

"Eww." Rachel scrunched up her face. "Should we do something with it? Someone will probably see it if we just leave it here."

Quinn sighed. "I do _not _remember signing up for monster cleanup."

* * *

><p>It was still so early in the morning that even after doing everything, Quinn and Rachel were still two of the first people at school. The ride had been virtually silent as Rachel sat there trying to process everything she'd seen and Quinn was simply too tired to talk.<p>

As soon as they pulled into the parking lot, though, Rachel got a strange look on her face, which didn't go unnoticed by Quinn.

"What?" she asked, looking at the brunette.

"How do you have your license?" Rachel asked.

"After everything that's happened this morning, _that's_ what you're worried about?" Quinn asked, laughing. Rachel frowned at her and Quinn sighed. "Sylvester."

"Sylvester?" Rachel asked.

"She does something to get all the Cheerios their licenses," Quinn replied. "Even the freshmen have them."

Rachel's jaw dropped a bit. "And that's legal?"

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "I didn't ask."

Rachel scoffed. "How could you not ask? What if you get pulled over sometime and then get thrown in jail because you don't have a valid driver's license and then you—"

"Rachel!" Quinn interrupted, rolling her eyes. "We just spent the morning fighting a lake monster that inserted parasites into our friends—do we really need to talk about this right now?"

"Fine," Rachel said, huffing. "But we _will_ talk about this sometime."

"I look forward to it," Quinn joked.

Quinn opened the door and stepped out of the car; she walked around to the trunk and pulled out her Cheerios duffle, which contained the sword.

"I'm going to put this back in the training room," Quinn said, trying hide the hilt of the sword.

The two walked into the building together and once inside, Quinn quickly took off down the hall and deposited the sword back into the training room. Luckily no one saw her; she had no idea how she would explain having a two and half foot sword in her Cheerios bag, especially since it was still covered in the Vla'ala's purple colored blood.

When she walked out of the locker room and back into the hall, it was definitely more crowded and rowdier than it had been all week. She walked through the halls, to her locker, where Santana and Brittany were standing.

"Quinn!" Brittany greeted before launching herself at Quinn.

"Hey Britt," Quinn said, smiling over the taller girl's shoulder at Rachel, who was watching them with a smile of her own.

"I have to go talk to Coach," Brittany said as she pulled away.

Quinn and Santana watched Brittany walk down the hall; Santana looked relieved and was actually smiling for once.

"She seems to be back to normal," Quinn noted.

"It was weird," Santana said, shaking her head. "I was at her house this morning and she was still acting weird and then all of a sudden, she started acting like Britt again."

Quinn smiled to herself. "Wonder what could have happened?"

Santana shrugged. "Who the hell knows? I'm just glad our Britts is back." Santana suddenly got that evil smile on her face that meant something bad was going to happen. "And I know just the thing to make me feel even better." She turned around and looked at Rachel, who was still at her locker. "It's already Wednesday and I haven't tortured Berry once this week."

Santana started walking toward Rachel, but Quinn quickly grabbed her arm before the other girl could get very far. "Don't, Santana."

"Excuse me?" Santana asked, turning around. "Did you just ask me to _not_ torture the Hobbit?"

"I've never asked you for anything before, but please just do this one thing for me," Quinn said, pulling Santana closer. "Leave Rachel alone. I don't just mean right now or today, but for good—leave her alone. No more names, no more slushies, no more pushing her around."

"Do you really expect me to just stop doing all that?" Santana asked. "And when the hell did she become Rachel?"

"Yes, I do," Quinn answered. "Because if nothing else, I'm your captain and can make your life hell for the next three years if I want to."

Quinn could see it in Santana's eyes that she felt betrayed, but it was necessary. Rachel had never deserved anything they had done to her. Quinn and Santana had both been horrible to her, yet she had still been willing to keep Quinn's secret and had helped her, just because she didn't want Quinn going alone. Quinn couldn't change what she had done in the past, but she wasn't going to let the future be just as shitty to the brunette.

Even if it meant her best friend being mad at her.

Santana scowled at her and jerked her arm at of Quinn's grasp. "Whatever you say, Captain."

Quinn watched as Santana walked away and then turned back to where Rachel was and started walking toward her.

"Hey," Quinn said, leaning against the locker next to Rachel's.

Rachel had involuntarily flinched at the sound of Quinn's voice. "Hi."

"Come with me," Quinn said, pushing off from the locker.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked, shutting her locker and looking confusedly at Quinn.

Quinn smiled. "I want to introduce you to my Watcher."

* * *

><p><strong>I do anticipate every chapter being at least 10k words, so it will probably be a few weeks between updates. I'd love to update faster, but I have another story to work on, I'm a full time student, have a part-time job, and I raid three nights a week.<strong>

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	3. The Haunting of McKinley High

**Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter; they always mean a lot.**

**Enjoy...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 –<strong> **The Haunting of McKinley High**

"What was that?" Rachel whispered into Quinn's ear, causing the blonde to jump.

"Shh," Quinn whispered, turning around and scowling. "I told you to be quiet!"

"But I heard something!" Rachel loudly whispered.

"Which is why we need to be quiet so it doesn't hear _us_," Quinn whispered back, rolling her eyes.

Quinn rounded the corner of a mausoleum to find a dog sniffing at the ground. "False alarm."

"What?" Rachel asked, popping her head around to see what Quinn was talking about.

"It's just a stray," Quinn replied.

"Oh, it's so cute," Rachel said, trying to approach the mutt.

Quinn grabbed Rachel's arm before she could make it to the dog. "Can you please focus? We're trying to kill vampires here—and where is your stake?"

Rachel reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled it out. "It's right here."

"Keep it out," Quinn ordered.

"I was worried I would get a splinter," Rachel said, huffing.

"Rachel!" Quinn said, exasperated. "Did you hear a word Sylvester said?"

"_Excuse me," Sue said, looking at Rachel._

"_I told her the truth," Quinn repeated, standing up at straight as she could; she wasn't going to let Sue intimidate her even if she was hovering above her, looking murderous._

_Sue's nostrils were flaring. "I told you _never_ to tell anyone."_

"_What was I supposed to do?" Quinn asked. "She saw me and she's not stupid; quite the opposite, actually. She figured it all out, so yes, I confirmed it for her, but she isn't going to tell anyone, and she even helped me today! Hell, she probably saved my life this morning."_

"_That little gnome saved your life?" Quinn asked. "I'm highly disappointed in you, Q."_

"_Don't call her that," Quinn said, scowling._

"_Excuse me," Rachel said, raising her hand. "While I in no way want to come between you two since I imagine the Slayer/Watcher relationship is very important, I would just like to confirm what Quinn said. I'm not going to tell anyone; her secret—your secret—is safe with me."_

_Sue was looking at Rachel like she was very confused by her. "Why is she talking to me?"_

_Quinn rolled her eyes. "You're going to train her."_

"_I'm going to what?" Sue asked._

"_Train her," Quinn repeated. "She's in this now and she needs to know how to fight."_

_Rachel raised her hand again. "I'm okay with not fighting, but I do want to help."_

"_You can definitely help with research, but you also need to know how to fight," Quinn softly said. "If you're going to be around me, it's going to be dangerous and I'd rather be safe than sorry. Believe me, I have no intention of putting you in harm's way, but you need to know, just in case."_

"_This is all very touching," Sue said, sneering._

"_And you!" Quinn was pointing her finger at Sue. "Quit being all caring one second and then passive and insulting the next!"_

_Quinn expected the older woman to yell at her, but instead, she started grinning at her. "There's the girl I know."_

"_Excuse me?" Quinn asked, frowning._

"_I was wondering where that fire went," Sue stated. "We'll train Berry, but you better not be a liability!"_

Rachel scoffed. "Are you insinuating that I am being a burden right now?"

"No, I'm flat out saying it," Quinn replied. "You're being a burden right now!"

"Why am I even out here?" Rachel asked. "I'm obviously no help to you, and according to you, I'm a burden."

Quinn tried to reel in the sarcastic retort that was on the tip of her tongue. "You know why." Quinn's face softened as she looked at the brunette. "You know you need to learn to fight; whether or not you're around me, you need to learn to protect yourself in this town. I know coming out here with me isn't exactly fun but it's necessary and you know it."

"Right," Rachel said, taking a deep breath and focusing on the task at hand.

Quinn tried to stifle the giggle that threatened to escape. Over the last few weeks, she'd gotten to know the brunette a bit better and actually found her to be quite amusing. At least when she wasn't being a gigantic pain in the ass. She still tended to ramble a lot and ask way too many questions, but Quinn was getting used to it and didn't mind her presence anymore.

Most of the time, anyway; tonight she was back to being a pain in the ass.

Rachel wasn't thrilled about training—actually, she was fine with the training, but she wasn't thrilled with putting that training into practice. This was the first night Sue had sent Rachel out into the field and the brunette had been a nervous ball of energy half the night. Quinn knew this was going to be difficult, since in their first training session, it had taken way too long to convince Rachel to even hit the punching bag. The girl was definitely not a fighter, and Quinn just hoped she could do it when the time came.

Quinn was looking at Rachel when the other girl's eyes got wide and she let out a squeak. "What?"

"Behind you," Rachel said, pointing with her index finger.

Quinn turned around to find a vampire staring at them; the blonde briefly wondered why the damn vampires didn't just rush her when she had her back turned, but then he ran at her and the thought flew out of her head.

Rachel squeaked again when the vampire tackled Quinn. Both she and the vampire fell to the ground, but Quinn managed to quickly flip him over her head and jump to her feet.

The vampire was a little slower getting up, but when he did, his focus went to Rachel instead of Quinn. Rachel's eyes grew wider and Quinn could already see that she was panicking.

"Focus, Rachel!" Quinn said. "You know what to do."

Rachel nodded; her face went back to looking determined and she was gripping the stake so hard, that her knuckles were turning white. The vampire rushed her a moment later, clearly sensing that she was the weaker of the two. Rachel managed to suppress screaming, but Quinn could see the fear and panic in her eyes. However, when the vampire threw a punch, Rachel dodged it with ease.

If there was one thing Rachel had going for her, it was her years of dance training. She might not be as strong as Quinn, but the girl definitely knew how to move quickly—quicker than Quinn would ever be able to.

When he threw a second punch, she dodged it too, and then threw a punch of her own. Her fist connected with his face and Rachel flinched upon impact.

"That hurt!" she said, wiggling her hand around.

The vampire took the opportunity to knock Rachel down, straddling her.

"Little help," Rachel requested.

"This is all you," Quinn said, watching them.

The vampire looked between the two girls, clearly confused about what was going on. "You're just going to let me bite your friend."

Quinn shrugged. "I guess so."

Rachel scoffed and started struggling against the vampire, who had both of her wrists in his grasp. It was no use, though; she couldn't seem to move an inch.

Quinn just rolled her eyes, sighing. She walked over and leaned onto the vampire's back, putting her forearm around his neck to pull him away from the brunette. He immediately let go of Rachel's wrist and started grasping at Quinn's arm. Rachel took this time to raise the stake, plunging it into his chest.

This time, Quinn squeaked in surprise as the vampire turned to dust under her, and she went falling forward, right onto Rachel.

Quinn groaned and lifted herself a bit so she was looking at the girl beneath her, her nose just inches from Rachel's. "Well, at least you killed your first vampire—even if you did have some help."

Quinn got up from her awkward position and offered her hand for Rachel to take; the brunette gladly accepted it. When she got to her feet, she dusted herself off and frowned.

"That was kind of gross."

* * *

><p>Quinn and Rachel walked into the hall together the next morning. Sue had insisted on them coming in and giving her all the details of the night before. Quinn didn't exactly know what it was, but Sue seemed to be taking her Watcher duties a lot more seriously now. Maybe it was as she's said—maybe Quinn had lost her fire for a while and Sue was just waiting on it to come back. Whatever it was, Quinn was glad she was taking this a little more seriously. It actually gave her hope that she might get through this.<p>

Rachel, however, didn't seem as keen about training. Quinn knew the girl was disciplined when it came to her singing and dancing—lord knows she talked about it enough—but when it came to fighting, she was a little less enthusiastic. She didn't know if it was the actual idea of fighting, since Rachel had once mentioned how she was opposed to violence, or if it was because wasn't used to Sue's unique training methods. Quinn thought it had to be the latter since she couldn't imagine the brunette being opposed to violence against evil.

Quinn immediately spotted Santana and Brittany as soon as the rounded the corner to the hall where both of their lockers were. It had been three weeks since Quinn had threatened her, and Santana still hadn't spoken a word to her since that day. She knew the other girl would be mad that she pulled rank, but didn't think she'd be _that_ mad.

At first Quinn had tried to be civil and engage her friend in conversation, but she eventually gave up when it was clear that the other girl was not going to talk to her. The closest Santana came to talking to her was when she was talking to Brittany and would throw passive aggressive comments out that Quinn knew were for here. Brittany tried to keep the peace and would admonish Santana whenever she said anything, but it was clearly taking a toll on her. Brittany hated to see anyone fight, especially her two best friends.

"Hey Quinn," Brittany said as soon as she saw the other blonde walking down the hall. "Hey Rachel."

Rachel smiled at her. "Good morning, Brittany."

That was another thing that seemed to bother Santana. Every time Brittany addressed the brunette, Santana's eye seemed to begin twitching and she would start scowling—not that that was much different from her normal face.

Rachel smiled at Santana as well, but quickly averted her eyes when the girl looked at her like she was about to rip her throat out.

"Did you guys hear?" Brittany asked, looking uncharacteristically sad.

"About what?" Quinn wearily asked.

"They found Azimio Adams hanging in the gym this morning," Brittany said sadly.

"He killed himself," Rachel said, her jaw dropping in shock.

"No, I'm sure he just slipped and fell in the noose," Santana sarcastically said.

"But why would he do that?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe there was a banana peel on the floor," Santana said, shrugging.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about that." She huffed and looked at Quinn. "Why would he kill himself? He's popular—he's on the football team. If anything, he would be the one to make some poor kid kill themselves."

Quinn shrugged. "Maybe there was something going on with him; you never know what's going on in someone's head."

"I know," Rachel said, sighing. "He just doesn't seem like the type to do it."

"I overheard Coach Sylvester telling Principal Figgins that he left a note," Kurt said, walking up to the four girls.

"What, are you just befriending all the losers now?" Santana asked Quinn.

"_Now_ you choose to talk to me?" Quinn said, scoffing.

"You're right, my mistake," Santana said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What did the note say?" Rachel curiously asked, ignoring the feuding friends.

"She didn't say," Kurt replied, shrugging. "Just that there was one."

"Why are you even talking to us?" Santana asked, sneering at Kurt.

"San," Brittany said, shaking her head.

Santana huffed, walking off and leaving the other four to look after her.

"Can't you two just make up?" Brittany asked, looking directly at Quinn.

"I'm not the one that's mad, Brittany," Quinn replied. "Santana's the one that's mad at me and you know how she is; she isn't going to do anything until she's ready to and clearly she's not ready." Quinn was pointing down the hall at Santana, who had shoved several students out of her way when they didn't move fast enough. "And please don't ask me to apologize to her because I really have nothing to apologize for."

Brittany sighed, but nodded. "I'm going to go see if she's okay."

"You and Santana are fighting and you're now friends with Rachel." Kurt shook his head and started walking away as well, but not before saying, "The world must be coming to an end."

Rachel glared after him and huffed indignantly. "Why does everyone act like us speaking is a sign of the apocalypse?"

"Because it probably is," Quinn joked.

"I do not appreciate that, Quinn Fabray!" Rachel said, huffing again.

"You know I'm only kidding," Quinn said, pulling on the brunette's arm.

Rachel was still a little touchy when it came to Quinn joking with her. Quinn really couldn't blame her, though; not after everything she'd said and done to her in the past.

"Can we not talk about it," Rachel said, walking off.

Quinn blinked in surprise and watched her walking off before she went after her. "Rachel, wait." Rachel didn't stop, but Quinn fell in stride beside her. "Where are you going?"

"To talk to Coach Sylvester," Rachel replied. "I want to know what that note said."

"Why?" Quinn asked.

"Because I want to know what we're dealing with," Rachel answered.

"What?" Quinn asked, frowning. "You think this is something supernatural?"

"Isn't everything in this town?" Rachel asked.

"Rach." Quinn grabbed her arm, pulling her around. "Not everything is supernatural; sometimes a suicide is just a suicide. I know it's terrible to think that he did it himself, but please stop worrying about it, okay?" Rachel sighed and nodded, but wasn't looking at Quinn. "Want me to walk you to class?"

Rachel looked up at her, a little startled by the question. "What?"

Quinn shrugged. "You look a little pale."

"No," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I'm fine."

Quinn nodded. "I'll see you in class later, then."

* * *

><p>When lunchtime rolled around, Rachel looked shocked when Quinn plopped down in the seat beside her in the lunchroom, as did Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes. Kurt and Mercedes exchanged a look that went unnoticed by the rest of the people, while Tina and Rachel just stared at the blonde Cheerio.<p>

"Aren't you off by about five tables?" Mercedes asked.

Quinn looked up at the question and scowled. "Are you saying I can't sit here?"

"No!" Mercedes quickly said. "I just meant that you don't normally sit here."

"Don't listen to her," Kurt quickly said. "You're very welcome to sit with us."

Tina nodded, but Rachel frowned. "Are you okay, Quinn?"

Quinn sighed, picking at the salad on her tray. "Santana's just being—Santana."

"I noticed she was being a little—difficult during Chemistry," Rachel replied.

"I think the word you were looking for is psychotic bitch," Quinn mumbled.

"Now Quinn—"

"She tried to light my hair on fire with the Bunsen burner!" Quinn interrupted.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened between you two?" Rachel asked.

Quinn looked at Rachel for a moment and then averted her eyes. "It's nothing."

Rachel had been trying to figure out what was going on between Quinn and Santana ever since she realized they were fighting. Quinn hadn't told her that _she_ had been the reason they were fighting, and Quinn really couldn't figure out what was stopping her from just telling Rachel, but, for some reason, she didn't want her to know.

"It's not nothing," Rachel replied. "While I may have no idea why, you and Santana are best friends; she clearly means a lot to you so why don't you just apologize to her."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Quinn said rather loudly, causing a few people to look her way. She looked over and Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes were all watching her with interest. "Listen, can we go somewhere else and talk about this."

Kurt looked like he wanted to protest, but Rachel shot him a dirty look. "Sure."

Quinn and Rachel both abandoned their plates and Rachel started walking toward the cafeteria door; Quinn knew she would take her to the auditorium since it was where they always went to talk. They probably would have gone to the training room, but knowing Sue, they both thought it could possibly be bugged.

They both took their usual spots on the edge of the stage and Rachel looked intently at Quinn. "So why are you and Santana fighting?"

Quinn sighed. "We're not really fighting; she's just mad at me."

"And what did you do to make her mad at you?"

Quinn looked at Rachel for a moment and then looked away. "I might have threatened her."

"Quinn!" Rachel admonished.

"I told her I'd make her next three years a living hell if she—" Quinn took a deep breath and looked at Rachel. "—if she does anything else to you."

"What?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"I told her no more slushies or name calling or anything else she normally does to you," Quinn replied.

"So—all of this is because of me?" Rachel asked.

"Yes." Quinn sighed. "Rachel, we're friends now; you saved my life. I wasn't going to let Santana continue treating you like shit. You don't deserve it. You never did, but especially not now. It's better this way, anyway. If Santana had kept it up, we'd probably end up getting in a fight and I don't even want to imagine the damage I would do to her."

Rachel was quiet for a while but finally whispered, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I still have a hell of a lot to make up for; this is just one of many things."

"You don't have to make up for anything," Rachel replied. "You've apologized and I've accepted that apology. While I'll never condone your past behavior, I have forgiven you for it."

"Maybe you're too forgiving," Quinn said.

Rachel laughed lightly. "And maybe you're too hard on yourself."

"Do you really think I would have changed at all if it wasn't for you discovering my secret?" Quinn asked. "You know I wouldn't have; I would still be slushying you in the halls and calling you those terrible names."

"I like to think that one day you would have changed even without the extenuating circumstances," Rachel replied. "It doesn't matter to me why you stopped doing it, just that you _did_ stop. You had a choice; you could have continued on doing those things, but you didn't, and I don't think it's because you were afraid I would tell your secret. You know no one would have ever believed me, so it had to have been more than that."

Quinn scratched her cheek self-consciously as Rachel stared at her. "I-I always felt bad about it," Quinn finally replied. "Sometimes I would be saying those things and it was like it was someone else entirely. I didn't want to be saying them, but they just kept coming out of my mouth. I always felt terrible, but I was too much of a coward to stop. I think seeing you at the graveyard—I just couldn't do it after that anymore. I'm not even sure why, but it was like something snapped inside of me."

Rachel smiled at her and Quinn kept her eyes on the floor. "Thank you."

"I told you to stop thanking me," Quinn said.

Rachel shrugged. "I'm still thanking you.

* * *

><p>"Come on you two!" Sue yelled.<p>

Quinn and Rachel both looked at each other; they were both exhausted after training for several hours. Rachel had already collapsed on the mat and Quinn wasn't too far behind.

"I just need a minute," Rachel wheezed out.

Sue shook her head in disappointment and looked at Quinn, who gave her a pleading look.

"Fine," Sue barked. "Let's do something simple for the rest of the training period since you two seem to be doing your best impression of a sloth today."

Sue walked over to the wall and Quinn's eyes lit up. "You mean we get to play with weapons." Sue glared at her and she immediately tried to look less enthused. "I mean—we get to learn the proper technique for using the highly dangerous weapons?"

Rachel could help but giggle and Quinn shot her a dirty look.

"Here," Sue said, handing Quinn a staff.

Quinn frowned, looking at it. "Couldn't I have something cooler?"

Sue picked up the crossbow from the wall and handed it to Rachel. "Here, you get to try this."

Quinn scoffed, but Rachel actually looked excited for once. "I highly look forward to learning how to use this."

"Why does she get to use the crossbow?" Quinn whined.

"Because you used it when I told you not to," Sue replied with her hands on her hips.

Quinn looked sheepish. "Sorry."

"Don't think I don't know what goes on in here even when I'm not physically present," Sue said as she walked away.

"I told you she has cameras in here," Quinn mumbled to Rachel.

"Quinn first," Sue commanded.

After showing them both the proper technique for their weapons, they were both having much more fun than before. Quinn was actually enjoying beating the hell out of the training dummy that Sue had set up in the middle of the room; it was definitely a good way to get rid of some of the tension she'd been feeling that day. This thing with Santana was definitely putting a strain on her, and combined with everything else, some of the time it almost became too much. Hitting things was definitely helping, though.

Rachel was actually becoming fairly proficient with the crossbow; much better than Quinn had done with it, anyway. For the most part, the brunette was at least hitting the target and not the wall like Quinn had. Her aim on the target wasn't very good, but Quinn imagined that with some more practice, Rachel would get really good at it.

"Okay, that's it for tonight," Sue finally said after another hour or so of training.

Without another word, Sue walked out, leaving the girls alone. Quinn put the staff and crossbow where they belonged before turning to Rachel and asking, "Do you need a ride?"

Rachel nodded. "Do you think Sue could get me my license too? You must be tired of driving me home every night."

Quinn laughed. "Like you would even take it if she got you one."

"True," Rachel said, sighing.

"And I don't mind driving you," Quinn added.

"You don't?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head, but didn't say anything else. She walked over and grabbed both of their backpacks from in front of the bench and handed Rachel's to her. It was almost seven by the time they walked out of the school and there was only one other car left in the parking lot.

"Are you patrolling tonight?" Rachel asked as soon as they were both in the car and buckled up.

Quinn shook her head as she pulled out of the parking spot. "I'm getting so behind that I'm going to have to stay up half the night just to catch up. I haven't even started studying for Friday's Chemistry test."

"Maybe we could get together tomorrow night and start studying for it," Rachel suggested.

Quinn shook her head. "You don't need to do that."

"I want to," Rachel stated.

"How are you not sick of me by now?" Quinn asked, laughing. "I feel like we're together half the day, every day."

Rachel frowned and looked away. "Sorry, I didn't even think about the fact that I've been spending so much time around you. I'll try to give you some space."

"No, Rachel." Quinn covered Rachel's hand with hers and gave it a quick squeeze before putting it back on the steering wheel. "I didn't mean it like that. I like having you around." Quinn shrugged. "I just figured you must be getting tired of me, but yes, I will happily study with you tomorrow night. If I don't do something soon, I'm going to have no chance of becoming valedictorian."

"Well, in that case, maybe I shouldn't help you," Rachel joked. "I mean, I am just right behind you."

"Ha ha," Quinn said, smiling.

Quinn pulled into Rachel's driveway and Rachel unbuckled her seatbelt. "Do we have training in the morning?"

"No," Quinn replied. "Sylvester set up Cheerios practice."

Rachel nodded. "I guess I'll see you at school then."

"Night," Quinn said, giving the brunette a smile.

"Goodnight, Quinn," Rachel said before shutting the door and running up the walkway to her house.

Quinn watched her until she had opened the front door and was safely inside. Rachel turned around and waved to her before shutting the door. Quinn smiled and pulled out of the drive, prepared to go home for a long night of homework.

* * *

><p>He looked up and down the dark halls for any sign of another person, but he was alone. School had been out for seven hours, so everyone was long gone.<p>

The contrast never ceased to amaze him. During the day it was so full of yelling, threats, slushies, and general misery from most of the student body; at night, though, the school was peaceful and almost bearable to be in.

He shook his head of the memories that threatened to invade his mind, squared his shoulders, and trudged down the hall. The rope hung loosely in his hand as he walked the halls, wondering where the best place would be to do it. The cafeteria? The hallway? No—the boys locker room. If he was going to send a message, he wanted it to be in there, where so many of his problems started—where so many of the taunts and jeers took place.

Turning around, he started walking in the opposite direction and made his way to the locker room. He flicked the light on and blinked as the room suddenly filled with light. After walking to the middle of the room, he looked up to see a pipe running through the middle of the room, and it was just low enough that he could reach it.

He quickly walked over and grabbed the chair from the corner of the room. It wobbled as he stood on it, but he steadied himself enough to throw the rope up. It took several tries, but the rope eventually went around the pipe and he caught the other end as it fell down. He smiled to himself as he went about his work.

When he was finally done, he took a long look around and jumped down from the chair. He grabbed the backpack he'd shrugged from his shoulders and pulled the notebook and a pen from inside. He hastily scribbled a note on the first blank page and threw the open notebook on the bench for everyone to see.

He stood on the chair for a second time and used the rope as leverage to stand on the tips of his toes. With one last deep breath, he put his neck through the makeshift noose and kicked the chair away.

* * *

><p>"Karofsky killed himself last night."<p>

Quinn was startled; she stared at Rachel for a moment before closing her locker. "What."

"I overheard everyone talking," Rachel replied, pulling Quinn into a nearby, empty classroom just as the bell rang. "They found him not long ago; you were probably at Cheerios practice."

"Is that what all the sirens were about?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded. "It happened in the boy's locker room. I heard one of the people say that he'd been gone a while and that he probably did it sometime last night."

Quinn sat on the edge of the desk. "His car was the only other one in the parking lot when we left."

"You don't think it happened while we were here, do you?" Rachel asked, looking horrified at the idea.

Quinn shrugged. "I don't know."

"I think his and Azimio's suicides are related," Rachel stated.

"Well, they were best friends," Quinn replied. "Karofsky looked pretty broken up yesterday; maybe it was too much to handle."

"I think it's more than that," Rachel said, starting to pace in front of Quinn. "Two suicides in two days? That's not a coincidence."

"I told you," Quinn said, sighing. "They were best friends."

"Would you kill yourself if Brittany or Santana did?"

"No, but—"

"I don't think Karofsky would have, either," Rachel interrupted. "Just like I don't think Azimio was the type."

"Rachel, I told you yesterday that not everything is supernatural," Quinn replied gently.

Rachel stopped pacing and looked at Quinn. "And considering where we are, there's also a good chance that it is. I think we should do some research tonight; if we don't find anything, though, I'll drop it."

"I thought we were studying tonight," Quinn reminded her.

Rachel shrugged. "We can do both."

"Fine, but if you don't find anything—"

"I'll drop it," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded and the two walked out into the hall. The bell had rung some time ago, so they were late for class and the only two around.

"I'm going to get detention for being late, aren't I?" Rachel said, looking rather unhappy.

"Tell your teacher that Sylvester wanted to talk to you," Quinn replied.

Rachel scoffed. "I can't lie."

"Yes, you can," Quinn said, laughing. "I'm sure she'll give you a note to back you up if I tell her it had to do with my Slayer duties."

Rachel suddenly stopped walking and Quinn turned around, looking at her questioningly. "Rachel?" The brunette didn't respond, but just looked around the hall for a second. "Are you okay?" Rachel finally locked eyes with Quinn and Quinn raised her eyebrow. "Uh, Rach, are you—" Quinn stopped talking as Rachel stepped closer, giving her a look she couldn't quite decipher. "You're going to be late for class."

Rachel finally stopped, much closer to Quinn than she knew what to think of; Rachel was nearly pressed up against her front, looking at her with such intensity that it made the blonde squirm a bit.

Quinn waved her hand in front of Rachel's face, and the brunette finally whispered, "Quinn Fabray."

Quinn was about to ask her again if she was okay, but before she had the chance, Rachel had leaned up and fused their lips together. Quinn's eyes grew wide and she squeaked in surprise. A million thoughts were racing through her head, most of them wondering what the hell was going on.

The kiss was awkward to say the least; Quinn was completely frozen on the spot and was so shocked that she couldn't even move in order to push the other girl away. After a few moments, though, Rachel jerked a bit and the kiss seemed to change. Instead of being stilted, it become more languid and Quinn felt Rachel's tongue brush against her lower lip. Suddenly, though, Rachel's eyes flew up and she jumped back several feet, looking at Quinn in shock.

"What—" Rachel shook her head. "I-I."

Quinn and Rachel just stood there, staring at each, equally in shock.

"I'm sorry," Rachel finally whispered. "What just happened?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Quinn replied, causing Rachel to give her a very confused looked. "Do you not remember?"

"We were talking," Rachel stated. "And then I was—we were—yeah."

"We were talking and then you just stopped walking," Quinn said. "I asked if you were okay and then you just kissed me."

"_I_ kissed _you_?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded. "Yes."

"I don't remember doing it," Rachel said, frowning. "I was talking to you, and the next thing I know, I realized I was kissing someone."

Rachel looked like she was on the verge of crying and Quinn took a couple steps forward, but didn't really know what to do for the other girl. "No, please don't cry," Quinn said. "It's okay."

Rachel took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Something weird is going on here. I think—"

Quinn frowned as Rachel trailed off. "You think what?"

"I think I'm starting to see what might have happened," Rachel said, walking off, and leaving Quinn more confused than ever.

* * *

><p>"I've got it!" Rachel yelled as she bound down the stairs for the door.<p>

Rachel's father sighed and went back into the kitchen, where he was before the doorbell rang. When Rachel threw open the door, Quinn was standing there with an annoyed look on her face.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, stepping to the side and frowning.

"Parents," Quinn mumbled as she walked into the house.

Quinn had called her parents after training to let them know she was going to a friend's house to study, but her mother insisted on her coming home for dinner. Apparently, her father had been making a fuss about her not being home. She didn't know why, though, since whenever she was around, she just seemed to disappoint him in one way or another.

"Are they giving you a hard time?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged, not really wanting to get into the details of her screwed up home life. "What smells so good?"

"Daddy's baking," Rachel replied.

"Oh," Quinn said, nodding.

"He does it a lot," Rachel quietly said. "I think it takes his mind of Dad being gone. I think he's making cookies if you want one."

"Umm—"

Quinn looked torn, so Rachel smiled at her and took her hand, pulling her toward the kitchen. "Come on. Believe me when I say there are more baked goods in this house than I could eat in a lifetime."

Rachel and Quinn walked into the kitchen where it looked like a bakery had exploded. Quinn's eyes widened and he looked at the brunette beside her. "Wow, you were not kidding."

"No, I wasn't," Rachel said sadly. "Daddy, this is Quinn Fabray." Rachel motioned toward the blonde when her father looked up from the mixing bowl. "Quinn, this is my Daddy, Leroy Berry."

"Nice to meet you," Quinn politely said.

Leroy scrutinized Quinn for a moment and then looked away. "Isn't she that cheerleader that throws slushies in your face?"

"Daddy!" Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's okay, Rach," Quinn said, blushing. "Yes, that's me."

"Did you know that Rachel came home, crying almost every day because of the things you and your friends did to her?" Leroy asked. "Her Dad had to—" Leroy stopped and his eyes became watery at the mention of his late husband.

Quinn helplessly looked at Rachel, but she didn't seem to know what to do either. "Mr. Berry, I'm sorry. I know I was—I was a bitch, there's no other word for it, but I've apologized to Rachel and I really am very sorry." Quinn made a mental note to apologize to Rachel again. "I've changed, though, and I'm not going to ever hurt your daughter again."

Leroy opened his mouth to say something else but Rachel cut him off. "She has, Daddy. We're—we're friends now." It really came out more of a question than a statement so Quinn smiled encouragingly at her. "Just give her a chance."

"Fine," Leroy said, not sounding very convinced, but Rachel knew he always trusted her judgment, so maybe he would give Quinn a chance—or at least be civil to her.

"Grab whatever you want," Rachel said, motioning around.

"Yes, help yourself," Leroy said with a tight smile.

"Do you want anything to drink," Rachel asked as she walked over to the fridge.

"Water?" Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel pulled two waters from the fridge and handed one over to Quinn after she grabbed a cookie from the nearby cooling rack.

"Come on," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn's arm, and pulling her toward the stairs. "Let's go study."

Rachel let go of Quinn's arm when they got to the staircase and she followed the brunette up and to her room. When Quinn stepped inside, she paused just inside the door to look around. It was pretty much exactly like she pictured—not that she really pictured Rachel's room that often—but it was definitely very Rachel Berry.

"So," Rachel said, shifting nervously as Quinn inspected the room. "What do you think?"

Quinn smiled. "I think it's very you."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Rachel asked, furrowing her brows.

"Good," Quinn replied, dropping her backpack on the bed as she walked past.

"Are we going to study or research first?" Rachel said, intently watching the blonde walk around the room.

"Either one," Quinn said, looking up at the posters on the walls before finally looking at Rachel. "Maybe we can do both at the same time?"

"What do you want to study first," Rachel asked as she pulled her laptop off her desk and settled onto the bed with it.

"Let's go over the elements first, since that's probably going to be the easiest thing," Quinn said, grabbing her bag to rummage through it. When she found her notebook, she flipped it open and riffled through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Do you know what you're going to look up?"

"I think people are being possessed or something," Rachel said, scratching her cheek. "I don't think Karofsky or Azimio willingly killed themselves and—well—obviously something weird happened with me earlier today." Rachel was blushing and avoiding Quinn's eye when she added the last part.

Quinn cleared her throat. "So, are we talking about a ghost?"

"Maybe," Rachel replied. "I was looking some things up before you got here and it does sound like one, but there are several other possibilities. I'm planning on looking into the school's history and seeing if anything pops out."

"Sounds good," Quinn said, looking down at the piece of paper. "I'll give these to you first while you're doing your computer thing. Br."

"Bromine," Rachel instantly answered as she typed.

Quinn nodded. "Os."

"Osmium," Rachel replied. "What would be the best place to find out stuff that happened at school?"

"The school newspaper?" Quinn suggested. "They have a website for it. Rb."

"Rubidium. Found it," Rachel said, clicked on the laptop. "I guess I'll start now and go back."

"You can probably skip the last year," Quinn said, scooting against the headboard so she was sitting next to Rachel and could see the screen. "I assume it would be someone that died on campus or they wouldn't be there, right?"

"Makes sense," Rachel said. "Okay, so we're starting before August of two-thousand eight."

Quinn was too busy watching the screen and studying was soon forgotten. Going through all the newspapers was oddly boring; you would think for a newspaper called The Muckraker, there would be more interesting articles, but it was like any other boring school paper.

"This could be something," Rachel said, leaning forward slightly. "There's an article on bullying from almost five years ago. A freshman student named Jacob Ben Israel hung himself in the AV room after being bullied throughout the year." Rachel frowned. "This is it."

"How do you know?" Quinn asked, leaning in closer.

"He dies exactly five years ago this week and look at the names," Rachel said, pointing toward the bottom of the article.

It listed the names, singling out several students that had been involved in the bullying. Quinn recognized several of the names, most notably the older brothers of Dave Karofsky and Azimio Adams.

"So, what—this Jacob kid's ghost is possessing the siblings of the students that bullied him and having them commit suicide?" Quinn clarified

"It makes sense—for this town, anyway." When Rachel scrolled down, revealing sever other names, her eyes widened. "Quinn!"

"What?" Quinn asked, looking back to the screen.

Quinn sighed and Rachel furrowed her brows. "I'm going to assume Frannie Fabray is your sister."

"Yes," Quinn said wearily. "Guess we know who he's going after next."

"We don't know that," Rachel quietly said.

"Yes we do," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Two down, one to go; no one else on that list has a sibling. I go to church with Mary and Sarah and they're both only children, which means I'm who he's going after next."

"You're staying here tonight," Rachel stated.

"What?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I'm making sure you're okay," Rachel replied. "I don't know how it works, but if he tries to possess you tonight, I'm making sure nothing happens to you."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Quinn asked.

"I'll—fight you if I have to,"

Quinn laughed loudly. "You're going to fight the Slayer?"

"If I have to," Rachel said, squaring her shoulders.

"Good luck with that," Quinn said, smirking. "But I _will_ stay if it makes you feel any better."

"Good," Rachel said with a nod. "Now—time to figure out how to do an exorcism."

"Seriously?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.

"How else are we going to get rid of him and stop him from going after you?" Rachel asked. "The research I did earlier on ghosts said that it was the only way to get rid of them; we have to cleanse the school of any lingering spirits"

"And how do we do that?" Quinn asked.

Rachel frowned. "I'm not sure, but I have a few books that might be helpful."

"You have books on how to do an exorcism?" Quinn asked, amused.

"No exactly," Rachel replied. "I'll have to look that part up online."

"Well, come on then," Quinn said, motioning to the laptop. "Let's do this before I find myself hanging in the Cheerio's locker room."

* * *

><p>"How did I never notice this before?" Quinn said, standing outside the metaphysical store, staring up at the sign in wonder that something like this existed in Lima.<p>

Rachel shrugged and glanced at Quinn. "People usually don't notice something if they're not looking for it."

Quinn and Rachel had stayed up fairly late researching how to get rid of their ghost problem and then Rachel had refused to go to sleep so she could watch Quinn all night. Quinn was determined to stay up too, but she had been getting such little sleep lately that it wasn't long before she crashed. Rachel insisted on them going to school since all the suicides had taken place at night and even an impending death couldn't deter Rachel from school.

Rachel followed Quinn around most of the day, which Santana had noticed and—despite not talking to her—proceeding in mocking her the whole day. Quinn didn't care, though; it was actually kind of nice having someone care about what happened to her. It was probably a first, actually. Her parents only care about how her actions made them look, Santana would rather stick her head in a vat of acid than care about anyone, and Brittany was caring in her own Brittany way, but it wasn't the same. Rachel was willing to risk herself for Quinn, which Quinn couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

"Come on," Rachel said, looking at her watch. "I want to be set up before it's dark."

Their plan was to have everything set up in the school and then leave until it was time to do the actual exorcism, since Rachel didn't want them to be in the school any longer than they had to be. Rachel felt like they would be safer in the daylight, which is why they were setting up then. The plan was to perform the ritual at midnight, which Rachel insisted was the best time to do it. Quinn didn't ask any questions and let Rachel handle at the research since she was much better at that kind of thing.

When the girls walking in to the shop, the bell jangled above them and a middle-aged woman popped her head out from the back.

"Blessed be," she greeted.

"Hello," Rachel said, smiling politely.

"Let me know if you need any help or have any questions," the woman said.

"We will," Quinn and Rachel said in unison.

"So, what are we looking for?" Quinn asked, looking around the store.

"Can you get the candles?" Rachel asked. "I need red, yellow, blue, green, white—one of each of those—and two dozen black ones."

Quinn cocked her eyebrow, but shrugged and did as she was told. Rachel, meanwhile, went over to where the stones were on the counter and began looking for what she needed. Once she was done, she did the same with the herbs, and then grabbed two white, mesh bags from a basket near the register.

"Here," Rachel said, laughing, and reaching out for some of the candles that Quinn was trying to juggle. "Did you get them all?"

"Yeah," Quinn said, setting them down on the counter. "What else do we need?"

"Nothing," Rachel replied. "I got the rest of it already."

Quinn frowned. "Wait—last night didn't you say we just needed candles for the ritual."

"Yeah, but I'm making you something for protection," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Do you have enough to make yourself one?" Quinn asked.

"I don't need one," Rachel said. "You're the one he's after."

"Rachel!" Quinn said, stomping her foot in a fairly good interpretation of Rachel.

"Fine," Rachel said, huffing, and grabbing another stone. "There, now I can make another."

"Thank you," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

The owner of the store came out from the back. "Did you find everything you need?"

"Yes," Rachel said, smiling at her.

The woman rang up their purchases and Quinn handed over her credit card, which Rachel tried to protest, but Quinn ignored her.

"You didn't have to pay for everything," Rachel said as soon as they were outside again.

"Why does it matter?" Quinn asked. "You're doing this to help me. Besides, maybe Sue can get a reimbursement."

Rachel sighed. "Let's get to the school."

Quinn drove in silence as Rachel worked on making a pouch for each of them for protection, since Rachel wasn't going to let Quinn go back into the school without one. Quinn did her best to keep her eyes on the road, but she kept looking out of the corner of her eye at what Rachel was doing, especially when Rachel repeated a spell three times.

"Here," Rachel said when she was finally done.

"How did you know how to do that?" Quinn asked. "And what do I do with this?"

"Just put it in your pocket or something," Rachel replied and Quinn slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans. "And I just followed the instructions that I found."

"Well, let's hope it works," Quinn said, pulling the car to a stop.

The two walked into the school, which was mostly empty, and went into the AV room. The door was locked, but Quinn had gotten the master key from Sue and quickly unlocked the door. When let Rachel in first and the brunette quickly got to work while Quinn locked the door and used a poster to cover the little window in the door.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked as Rachel started drawing something on the floor.

"I'm drawing a pentacle," Rachel answered. "Can you put those black candles around the room?"

"What's a pentacle?" Quinn asked.

"It's a pentagram with a circle around it," Rachel explained. "It's for protection."

"If you say so," Quinn mumbled.

Quinn was done before Rachel was, since the girl was so meticulous and trying to get the symbol perfect. "What now?"

"Grab the rest of the candles and put them at the ends of the star," Rachel replied. "White at the top, blue on the right, red on the bottom right, green on the bottom left, and yellow on the left."

"You got the green and yellow backwards," Rachel commented after she finally finished drawing the circle.

Quinn rolled her eyes and switched the two candles. "Better?"

"I think everything is set up," Rachel said, looking around. "Let's go before someone catches us."

"I don't know," Quinn said, smirking. "I'd kind of like to see you explain why we're drawing a pentagram on the floor of the AV room."

"Pentacle," Rachel corrected.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

* * *

><p>Rachel took a deep breath and then looked over at Quinn. "Are you ready?"<p>

"Do you think this thing will really work?" Quinn asked, sniffing at the small pouch. "What's in it, anyway?"

"The smell is Rosemary," Rachel replied. "And let's hope so."

It was a quarter til midnight and the girls had been sitting in Quinn's car for the past thirty minutes just staring at the school. They were both nervous about what they were about to do; Quinn was worried she was going to end up hanging from a rope somewhere and Rachel was worried about the same thing, but also that she was going to be the one to mess up the ritual. It was one thing reading it online, but the thought of actually banishing a spirit was kind of daunting. Rachel had seen enough horror movies to know that this could end very badly.

Quinn was the first to open her door and step into the night air; Rachel followed soon after and the two of them hesitantly walked to the building. The front door was locked, but once again, Quinn used the key Sue had given her and let them in.

"I think we should have brought a flashlight," Rachel whispered, looking down the extremely dark hallway.

"Come on," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel's hand.

"What was that?" Rachel said, jumping when she heard a small noise.

"I don't know," Quinn replied, stopping.

Rachel was practically molded to Quinn's back as she looked down the hall. "I don't see anything."

"Let's just get to the room," Quinn suggested.

The two quickly walked down the hall; Quinn unlocked the door and pulled Rachel inside. Quinn looked around and everything was exactly as they had left it; Rachel had been worried that someone would come in and see it or move their stuff.

"Here," Rachel said as she grabbed the two nearest candles. She gave one to Quinn before striking a match and lighting it, which she then used to light her own. "Get the ones on this side of the room and I'll get the others."

Quinn nodded and went about lighting all the black candles on the right side of the room.

"Well, well, well."

Quinn whipped around to find Santana standing just inside the door; she had a smirk on her face and Quinn could see Brittany standing just behind her.

"Go home, Santana," Quinn said, nearly growling in frustration.

"What kind of kinky shit is this?" Santana asked, walking into the room and looking around. "Although, I must say, if you're sacrificing Berry, you have my full support."

"Santana!" Brittany scolded. "Be nice."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Quinn asked, taking a few steps forward so she was right in Santana's face.

Santana smirked. "I could ask you the same thing. It's midnight and you're at school, with Berry, and with a pentagram on the floor."

"Pentacle," Rachel mumbled.

"I knew you were going off the deep end when you started hanging out with losers and freaks, but this is taking it a bit far, don't you think?" Santana said, scowling.

Quinn scoffed. "Don't suddenly act like you care. Just get out of here."

"What are you doing?" Brittany suddenly asked.

"Britt, please get Santana out of here," Quinn said, stepping toward the blonde.

"What are you doing?" Brittany repeated, grabbing Quinn's arm rather tightly.

"Britt?" Quinn questioned, trying to pull her arm out of her grip. "Can you let go?"

"You don't know what you're messing with," Brittany gritted out, pushing Quinn so she stumbled back into Santana. "This isn't going to get rid of me; it isn't going to save you."

Santana frowned, looking the tall blonde. "Britt, what's going on?"

"Santana," Quinn said, pulling the other girl toward her.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Santana angrily asked, pushing Quinn.

Brittany started sauntering toward them, but Quinn lunged forward and pushed her back and out the door. She quickly shut the door in the other girl's face and locked it. Brittany started pounding on the door when she realized it was locked.

"What the fuck?" Santana asked.

"Listen, Santana," Rachel said, striding over and pulling the brunette so she was facing her. "We don't have time to explain, but there's a ghost in the school that has been possessing people."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Santana yelled, looking toward the door.

"He's got Brittany," Rachel said, putting her hand on Santana's cheek to force the other girl to look at her. "He's not after her, though; he's after Quinn."

Quinn pulled the pouch from her back pocket and tossed it to Santana. "Hold onto that."

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked.

"Getting him to leave Brittany alone," Quinn said, taking a few steps toward the door before turning around. "Don't screw up." Quinn smirked at Rachel for a moment and then turned around and put her hand on the doorknob. "Santana, make sure you pull Brittany in here and lock the door."

Quinn opened the door and held Brittany back. "Come on, Jacob." Brittany spasmed in front of Quinn and she knew he was out of the girl. "Get her, Santana!"

Santana didn't hastate to pull the girl into the room and lock it as she was told.

Rachel looked on in horror as Quinn started walking down the hall. "Grab one of those candles and light the ones around the room."

"Listen here, Berry—"

"No!" Rachel grabbed Santana's arm and pulled her closer. "You're going to do as I say or Quinn is going to end up hanging somewhere. You might hate her right now, but unless you want her to die, you're damn well going to listen to me."

Santana opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally turned around and did as she was told.

"What's going on?" Brittany asked, looking around in confusion.

"Help me light these, Britt," Santana requested.

Rachel went back to light the rest of the candles on the other side of the room. When she was done, she turned around to find Santana and Brittany watching her.

Rachel walked to the middle of the room and took a deep breath as she knelt down in the middle of the drawing on the floor and started lighting the candles around her. "By Fire, Water, Earth and Sky, from this place I command you fly." She finished lighting the last candle and closed her eyes. "By the beating of my heart, I command you spirit to depart. By powers above and powers below, I command you to go."

"Is that a real spell?" Santana asked.

"Shh!" Rachel said, scowling.

Santana listened to Rachel repeat the spell two more times; she was looking at the girl in confusion, but Brittany looked quite enthused by it all and actually had a small smile on her face. All three girls jumped, though, when Quinn slammed on the door.

"It's not going to work!" Quinn said, kicking the door.

"Then why are you trying to stop us," Rachel mumbled.

"Shit!" Santana said, jumping when the wood started splintering. "When did Q get so strong?"

"Santana, come here and help me!" Rachel commanded, thrusting the spell in Santana's hands. "Hold hands with me and repeat that."

Santana looked at her in disgust. "I don't think so."

"Do it, San," Brittany ordered.

Santana sighed. "Fine."

"By Fire, Water, Earth and Sky, from this place I command you fly. By the beating of my heart, I command you spirit to depart. By powers above and powers below, I command you to go," Rachel and Santana said in unison.

"I think it's starting to work," Brittany said, watching Quinn back off and fall to the ground. She continued staring out the small window as Rachel and Santana chanted. "Guys, I think you can stop."

Rachel looked toward the door just as Brittany unlocked the deadbolt. "Brittany, don't go out there."

Santana and Rachel both ran toward the blonde and Santana pulled her back. Rachel looked into the hall, saw Quinn on the ground, and cautiously approached her.

"Quinn?" Rachel said, nudging the girl with her foot.

Quinn moaned as she stirred; she slowly cracked one eye open and looked at the three girls. "I guess you didn't screw up."

Rachel laughed, shook her head, and reached her hands out to help Quinn up. "Are you okay?"

"I kind of feel like I've been hit by a truck," Quinn said, wincing as she stood up.

"Okay, I don't know what freaky shit is going on here, but I'm leaving it to you two losers," Santana said, grabbing Brittany's hand and pulling her along.

"Nice seeing you too, Santana," Quinn mumbled.

"Let's get you home," Rachel said, putting her hand on Quinn's back and gently guiding her.

"What about the stuff in there?" Quinn asked, looking back.

"I'll clean it up in the morning," Rachel answered as she led Quinn to the exit.

* * *

><p>"Hey, bitch," Santana said, stopping next to Quinn's locker.<p>

Quinn looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "You're talking to me now?"

"Brittany wanted me to say I'm sorry, but we both know that ain't going to happen," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"So why are you here?" Quinn asked.

Santana shrugged and looked down the hall as Brittany approached.

"Hey, Britt," Quinn said as soon as she saw the other blonde.

"Did you say you're sorry?" Brittany asked Santana, frowning.

Quinn smirked at Santana, who just rolled her eyes again. "Sorry."

Brittany smiled. "Now you two can be friends again."

"Not as long as she's friends with the Midget," Santana said, watching the brunette walk down the hall right for them.

"Hey, Rachel," Brittany greeted, smiling.

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said smiling back.

"Be nice to her," Brittany said, scowling. "I don't know what happened, but I think Rachel and Quinn saved me last night, so you need to be nice to both of them."

Santana scoffed. "Whatever."

Santana walked off, scowling and Quinn turned to Brittany, asking, "Why were you two even at the school last night?"

"We were heading home from the movies and Santana saw your car in the lot," Brittany replied. "She won't admit it, but she was worried that something was wrong with you. You know how she is; she doesn't like to admit that she cares. She doesn't like Rachel because she's afraid she's going to replace her as your best friend. Can you let Santana know you're not going to do that so you two can be friends again?"

Quinn nodded. "Sure, Britt. I'll talk to her later, okay?"

"Great," Brittany said, brightening. "I'm going to find San."

Quinn watched the blonde skip down the hall. "Sylvester says we're both to stay after school for training."

Rachel smiled and nodded. "You have to admit—life is no longer boring."

"Life definitely is more interesting now." Quinn sighed, but looked at Rachel and smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>Next chapter, you all finally meet the Big Bad of the story.<strong>

**Reviews are always welcome and very much appreciated.**


	4. The Mother of All Problems

**Sorry for the hiatus. Right after I posted the last chapter, everything starting getting hectic at school and then it finally started settling down, but we found an apartment we liked so I spent a few weeks moving. I should be back to posting regularly now, though.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4 – The Mother of All Problems<strong>

Monday morning, Quinn stared at the Chemistry exam her teacher had just handed back to her. There was a big 'D' on it, written in red ink, and circled; it was as if her teacher was worried she was going to miss the grade or something. This was bad. Quinn had never gotten below a B in her life, but now she was staring at a D. She knew she hadn't done the greatest on the test, but this was even worse than she thought it was going to be. She was normally very dedicated when it came to school, but it was hard to study when she spent half the week fighting evil and the rest of the week training.

"When you crash, you crash hard," Santana said, staring at the paper in Quinn's hands and smirking.

Quinn quickly flipped the exam over and rolled her eyes. "I was a bit busy Thursday night."

"I noticed," Santana replied. "I guess it's hard to study when you and Berry were here all night doing some freaky occult shit."

Quinn quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard Santana, but everyone was too busy looking at their own tests to notice. "Can you not say stuff like that out loud?"

Santana scoffed. "Why should I care if anyone hears me?"

"Have you been telling people?" Quinn asked.

"Not yet," Santana replied. "But that doesn't mean I won't."

"You cannot tell anyone," Quinn harshly whispered.

"Oh yeah, who is going to stop me?" Santana asked. "You're into some weird shit and if I want to, I can tell the whole school your little secret. You'll fall from the top of the social pyramid and I'll take my rightful place."

Quinn glared at her. "You know, I think I liked you better when you weren't speaking to me. And just so you know, if you tell anyone what you saw, I might fall, but you'll fall even further. If you want to piss off Sylvester, though, go right ahead. I'm sure she'll love to torture you for a while before she kicks you off the squad."

"You're bluffing," Santana stated.

Quinn smiled at her. "Try me. Do it and you can see just what happens to you."

Rachel had been watching the whole exchange and was very surprised when the bell rang and Santana walked away without another word. She had never seen Santana back down from anyone, but Quinn had successfully called her bluff.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, walking up to Quinn when the last student had left the room.

"I'm fine," Quinn said, nodding. "Santana was just being Santana."

"I heard," Rachel said. "At least she dropped it, though. I was anticipating her causing a bigger scene than that."

"She won't drop it for long," Quinn said as she put her notebook and test into her bag. "She won't let it go until she knows the truth, and even then, who knows what she will do." Quinn shouldered her bag and started walking toward the door, with Rachel following. "Do you want to go to the auditorium to eat? I don't really feel like being in the cafeteria right now."

"Yeah, just let me stop by my locker first," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded. "I'll meet you in there."

Rachel gave Quinn a small smile and the blonde continued walking down the hall while Rachel turned down another. When Quinn walked into the auditorium, several people were leaving; the door closed behind them and Quinn was left alone in the room. She made her way to the stage and walked up the steps instead of taking her usual seat on the edge of the stage. She was still standing there, lost in thought, when Rachel walked into the room.

Rachel paused at the door when she saw Quinn standing in the middle of the stage, but then she shook her head and started walking again. "Are you okay?"

Quinn smiled. "You keep asking me that."

"Yeah, well, you always look like something is wrong," Rachel said, shrugging.

"I'm just—" Quinn sighed and shook her head. "I'm okay. I'm just a bit stressed at the moment."

"Understandable," Rachel replied. "You have a lot going on; anyone would be overwhelmed by all the pressure you're under right now."

"I got a D on my test," Quinn admitted.

"I'll do better next time," Rachel said, causing Quinn to frown.

"_You'll_ do better?" Quinn asked.

"It's my fault," Rachel replied. "I told you I would study with you, but then I got too distracted to help you."

Quinn scoffed. "You got distracted with trying to save my life."

"I know, but I still should have done better," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Rachel, you can't blame yourself for me doing badly," Quinn softly said. "It's my fault, not yours."

"I know that, but you have so much going on and I feel like I should have been there to help you more," Rachel replied.

Quinn actually laughed out loud and Rachel scowled at her. "Rach, you've saved my ass twice; I'm the one that owes you."

"You don't owe me anything," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"And you don't have to feel responsible for what happens to me," Quinn said, smiling at the brunette. "I'll be okay; I just need to learn to manage my time better and hope nothing is trying to kill me the night before my next test."

Rachel grinned. "Isn't something _always_ trying to kill you now?"

"True," Quinn said, tilting her head back and forth.

"Come on," Rachel said, sitting down on the edge of the stage. "Let's eat before lunch is over."

* * *

><p>Quinn stopped upon hearing a twig snap somewhere behind her; she looked over her shoulder and then looked to both sides, but didn't see any sign of movement. She continued walking but tread lightly, hoping she was quiet enough to hear if something was about to sneak up on her.<p>

The graveyard she was in was one of the largest in Lima and she had only been in it once before, so she was on extra high alert. She was beginning to learn a lot of the graveyards in town and knew most of the places things hid, but she didn't know this one very well and it made her nervous. Rachel wanted to come tonight, but Quinn wouldn't let her; she didn't want to have to worry about the other girl. Taking her to one of her normal patrolling grounds was one thing, but she didn't want Rachel being around unless she was confident she could protect her. Right now, Quinn was feeling vulnerable enough without worrying about a friend.

Once again, Quinn thought she heard movement, but she saw nothing when she whipped her head around. She was also beginning to get a nagging feeling that someone was watching her. She shook off the feeling, though, and continued walking, passing by a large mausoleum. As soon as she was past the corner, she felt something collide with her face, knocking her on her ass. Looking up, she saw a vampire standing above her with a smirk on his face.

"You are one crappy Slayer," he said to her as his face morphed back into its human form.

"Gee, thanks," she sarcastically said.

"I wasn't even attempting to be quiet, but I still got the jump on you." He smiled at her and ran his hand through his hair. "You really might want to work on that; your skills are definitely lacking."

Quinn gently touched her fingers to her lip and then pulled them away, looking at the blood on them. She wondered why the vampire wasn't attacking her while she was down, but when she tried to get up, he kicked her in the side. Clutching her ribs, Quinn groaned in pain and was silently cursing him. She tried to stand again and this time she was ready to block his kick. When she got to her feet, he smiled at her and slowly clapped his hands, causing her to glare at him.

"At least you learned," he said.

"Are you just here to mock me or are we going to fight?" Quinn found herself asking; she was fuming at being lectured by a vampire.

"I am mostly here to mock," he said, nodding his head. "I'm afraid it wouldn't be much of a fight if we went down that route."

"Oh yeah?" Quinn asked.

He smiled again. "Yeah."

Quinn threw a punch, really wanting to hit him in the face, but he grabbed her arm before her fist connected. Before she had a chance to react, he had kneed her in the side and flipped her over. She grunted when she hit the ground and glanced up at him. He was definitely stronger and quicker than any vampire she had faced before.

He sighed as he looked down at her and then started walking away from her; Quinn looked at his retreating back in confusion.

"Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky," he said as he walked.

"You're leaving?" Quinn asked, standing up.

"It's no fun killing a Slayer when they won't last two minutes," he said, stopping and turning around to look at Quinn. "Plus, my Mistress will want to be the one to do it and who am I to deny her the pleasure of killing you. And make no mistake, she will kill you and it will not pleasant or quick for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go tell her there's a new Slayer in town; she'll be so pleased."

He continued walking away and Quinn clutched at her side again; she slowly lifted her shirt and saw that a nasty bruise was already forming on her left side and she guessed the one on the right wouldn't be far behind. She winced as she moved and decided that she was done for the night; every time she took a step, there was a searing pain in her side and she wondered if her ribs were actually broken. After slowly making her way to her car, she drove home, vowing to start training even harder than she had been. She didn't know who the pompous vampire's Mistress was, but there was no way she was going down without putting up a fight.

* * *

><p>"What the hell happened to you?"<p>

Quinn rolled her eyes and continued walking down the hall, ignoring the fact that Santana was right on her heels. As soon as Santana caught up to her, though, she grabbed Quinn's arm and spun her around. Quinn pulled her arm out of Santana's grasp and crossed her arms over her chest, scowling at the brunette

Quinn had been changing after Cheerio's practice and after she pulled her shirt off, she saw Santana's eyes on her. Quinn had bruises on nearly half her torso, so there was no hiding it from Santana. She had quickly thrown her shirt on, grabbed her bag, and left the room. She was hoping Santana would stay in the locker room and not follow her, but Santana had immediately gone after her.

"Why do you look like some used you as their own personal hacky sack?" Santana was glaring back at Quinn, obviously daring her to lie.

"I fell," Quinn stated.

Santana scoffed. "On what? Someone's fist?"

"I'm fine," Quinn lied. "It's nothing, really."

"Bullshit," Santana said, shaking her head. "You limped through practice; I thought you were just being a baby, but then I saw someone's been using your side as a punching bag. Was it Russell? I swear to God, if that bastard has started hitting you again, I will beat his ass."

Quinn sighed. "It wasn't my father."

"Then who was it?" Santana asked, crossing her arms, mirroring Quinn.

Quinn laughed. "So, you suddenly want to be friends again?"

"I didn't say that," Santana replied. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let the person get away with it."

"Don't worry about it," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I can take care of myself."

Quinn turned and started walking again, but Santana followed her. "Does this have to do with what happened last week? Because seriously, Q, what the hell was that?"

"It was nothing," Quinn lied.

"I know you know better than to lie to me," Santana said through clenched teeth. "Every morning, you come in here looking like you've been up half the night, you're failing tests, you're suddenly best friends with Berry, and you keep disappearing into that locker room and when I go in there, you're nowhere to be found. Something is going on with you, and whether you want to tell me or not, I will find out, so just save us both the trouble of me harassing the shit out of you and hows about you just tell me now."

"Drop it, Santana," Quinn said as she pushed the auditorium door open.

Quinn walked into the auditorium, expecting Santana to follow her, but when she looked back, she was alone. The blonde breathed a sigh of relief; she knew Santana's interrogation wasn't over, but at least she didn't have to deal with it this second.

"Long day?"

Quinn looked up and Rachel was perched on the edge of the stage, watching her, and smiling. "Very."

"Here." Rachel tossed a plastic bag to Quinn, who barely caught it before it smacked her in the face. "I thought you might be hungry."

Quinn pulled a sandwich out and smiled. "Thanks."

"So, why has it been such a long day?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged and sat down in the front row, not really feeling like sitting on the hard stage. "Practice was kind of rough."

Rachel furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"I went patrolling last night and a vampire pretty much kicked my ass," Quinn said, sighing. "I'm sore all over and I have a few bruises, which Santana happened to see, so now she's bugging me about Thursday night again."

"Where are you bruised?" Rachel asked, jumped down.

"My sides and back," Quinn replied.

"Let me see," Rachel said, motioning for Quinn to stand up.

"It's nothing, Rach," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"It doesn't sound like nothing," Rachel replied. "Come on, let me see."

Quinn sighed, but stood up. Rachel slowly pulled up the hem of Quinn's shirt, trying to be as gentle as possible, but Quinn still flinched a bit when the brunette's hand touched her side. Rachel didn't say anything when she saw the discoloration on Quinn's side, but her face said it all.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Quinn lied.

"I hope not, because it looks like you broke a rib after someone used you as a punching bag," Rachel said.

Quinn smirked and pulled her shirt down. "That's exactly what Santana said."

Rachel lightly brushed her thumb over Quinn's bottom lip and frowned. "Is that where that came from too?"

Quinn took a few steps away and nodded before sitting back down. "He got a few good shots in."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, frowning.

Quinn smiled as she shook her head. "It's not like you were the one that did it to me."

"Not about that." Rachel took the seat next to Quinn and stared straight ahead. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Rachel frowned again and turned her whole body so she was facing Quinn. "Listen, I know we haven't talked about it, but I don't want things to ever be awkward because of—"

"Because of what?" Quinn asked, not really following where Rachel was going.

"Because of the kiss," Rachel said, exasperatedly.

"Oh." Quinn nodded. "That."

"Yes, that," Rachel said, softly. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable by touching your lip; I didn't even think about it."

Quinn sighed. She had deliberately not brought up the subject of the kiss, but now Rachel was doing it for her and there didn't seem to be any way of getting out of talking about it.

"I know me kissing you was probably the last thing on earth you would ever want, and even though I wasn't actually the one that initiated it, I still feel like I need to apologize for it happening." Rachel took a deep breath and averted her eyes from Quinn's. "I guess it's my fault that it continued longer than necessary since I did sort of continue kissing you after the ghost left my body, but I also really didn't know what was happening at the moment. I just don't want things to get awkward between us because you are obviously straight and I don't want you worried that I might try something like that again—even if I technically wasn't the one that tried it in the first place. So, I apologize for the kiss and the fact that it might have made you uncomfortable."

Once it was clear that Rachel was finally done, Quinn burst out laughing. "That was an impressive rant, even for you." Rachel was scowling at her, but Quinn just smiled and cocked her head. "Don't worry about the kiss, okay? You were possessed; it's not like you would ever willingly kiss me." Rachel opened her mouth but quickly closed it. "Let's just forget that it ever happened, okay?"

Rachel cleared her throat, looking away. She stood up, walked to the stage, and grabbed the other bag that had her sandwich in it. When she came back, she slumped down into the chair and let out a small sigh. "Let's eat while we can; it's almost five, and we shouldn't be late."

Quinn was watching the brunette and frowned at her sudden demeanor. "Okay."

* * *

><p>"Sloppy!" Sue bellowed at Quinn.<p>

Quinn rolled her eyes and grunted in pain as she tried to stand up; she was sparring with Sue, but it wasn't going well. She could barely move without being in excruciating pain, so Sue kept getting one up on her. Sue would then yell at her and the process would start all over again while Rachel watched on, wincing every time Quinn got hit.

"Let's go again," Sue said as soon as Quinn got on her feet.

"I know it's not really my place, but if I may interject," Rachel said, raising her hand.

"What?" Sue barked.

"Maybe you should call it a day," Rachel suggested.

"No Slayer of mine is going to leave early when she can't even get through a simple training exercise," Sue said, sneering.

Rachel sighed and looked at her friend. "Quinn, just show her." Quinn narrowed her eyes at Rachel, but she ignored it. "Quinn doesn't want to admit it, but she got hurt last night. That's why she is not up to her normal standard today. I suspect she has a broken rib and that's why it hurts so much for her to even move, so the sparring is probably putting her in some excruciating pain right now, but she has too much pride to tell you herself."

"Show me," Sue said, turning to Quinn, who sighed but pulled up her shirt. "How did it happen?"

"I was patrolling last night and I kept thinking I heard something, but I never saw anything until I walked around a corner and got punched in the face," Quinn recounted, letting her shirt fall back down. "I got kicked and kneed a few times and then he—left."

"He left?" Sue asked.

"He said he was leaving me for his Mistress to kill," Quinn said, crossing her arms. "Believe me, the next time I see that pompous jackass, I will turn him to dust. He managed to sneak up on me and catch me off guard, but won't happen again."

"It better not happen again," Sue replied, scowling at her and leaving the room without saying anything else.

"You need to be more careful out there," Rachel said, walking up to Quinn. "Are you mad at me for telling her?"

"No, I'm not mad at you," Quinn said, shaking her head. "A bit annoyed with you, but I'm not mad. You just—you don't have to tell her everything, you know?"

"But she's your Watcher; she needs to know what's going on," Rachel reasoned.

"And she's also never going to let me live it down," Quinn replied.

"You should have let me go with you," Rachel stated.

Quinn shook her head. "I'm glad I didn't; he probably would have killed you and still kicked my ass."

"Or I could have helped," Rachel replied.

Quinn shrugged. "Maybe, but just in case, I don't want you going out there with me for a few days." Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but Quinn quickly held her hand up, silencing the girl. "I don't want you to argue with me. He kicked my ass; you're not going to fare any better against him. It's going to be bad enough when I'm out there; I don't need to worry about you too. I know you might be able to help me, but you also might not be able to and it's not worth the risk. Just for a couple of days and then you can come with me again."

"So, if by Friday everything is fine, I can come with you?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Quinn replied.

"Any chance you'll not go patrolling for the rest of the week?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed but winced when a sharp pain went through her side. "No."

The door opened and Quinn and Rachel turned toward it to see Sue coming back in the room.

"Here," she said, throwing an icepack to Quinn. "Keep putting that on it tonight and take some pain medicine; if it hasn't improved by morning, you're going to the doctor. We're done for tonight, but I want you here first thing in the morning."

Quinn nodded. "Okay, Coach."

Rachel watched as Sue left again and then she turned to Quinn. "I'm going to see if I can do some research and find out who this so called 'Mistress' is. It's probably a long shot, but I'm going to see if I can dig up anything." Rachel shrugged. "She's probably just some vampire that found herself a few minions to follow her around, but I'll still see if I can find any information that will be useful."

"Thanks," Quinn said, smiling, grateful to have Rachel to do these things.

Rachel nodded. "Just be careful out there tonight."

* * *

><p>Quinn walked carefully through the graveyard; she didn't need another incident like the night before. Tonight, though, she was in one of the places she was familiar with. She had patrolled this graveyard many times, so at least she felt a little more comfortable with her surroundings even if she wasn't in the best physical condition. She didn't need two things working against her, though.<p>

The place was relatively quiet; so far the only thing she had seen was a stray cat chasing after a rodent. She was keeping an eye on several freshly dug graves; neither of them seemed to die under mysterious circumstances—one was from old age and the other a car accident—but she wasn't going to take the chance of being wrong.

It was almost after midnight when she started hearing rustling coming from the trees at the edge of the graveyard. She slowly walked over to them, gripping the stake in her hand tighter. She was only a few feet away when a voice made her jump.

"So, is this how you always spend your nights?"

Quinn sighed. "Dammit, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Santana said, smirking as she came out from behind the largest tree. "I must admit—this is not the place I was expecting to follow you."

"How did you even find me?" Quinn asked.

"I was in the locker room when you and Berry came out of that door, which—what is in there, by the way?" Santana asked. "I always figured it must be a janitor's closet or something, but unless you were in there making out with Berry—" Santana shrugged. "I followed you when you came out and you led me here. So, I'm going to ask again—what are you doing here? You keep walking around like you're waiting for something to jump out at you. It's a little weird."

"I like to walk in graveyards," Quinn lied, shrugging. "They help me clear my head."

Santana scoffed. "Yeah, because that's not a total lie. You're here for a reason and I want to know why or the whole school is going to hear about this tomorrow."

"Well then Coach Sylvester can kick you off the Cheerios tomorrow," Quinn said, smirking.

"So she knows what you're doing then?" Santana asked. "I saw her going in and out of that door while you were in there."

"Just go home, Santana," Quinn said, turning to walk away.

"No," Santana replied, walking after her. "Not until you tell me why the hell you're in a cemetery in the middle of the night."

"I'm not telling you anything," Quinn said, quickly turning around so her face was only a few inches from Santana's. "Go home. Now."

"Or what?" Santana asked, smirking. "What are you going to do to me if I don't? Are you going to get a ghost to possess me like it did Britt or are you going to do something with the pointy wooden thing in your hand? You may be into some freaky shit right now, but you still don't scare me."

Quinn scowled at her, but didn't really know what to say. She couldn't tell her the truth—Coach would kill her and Santana was one of the last people she wanted knowing her biggest secret—but Santana wouldn't listen to her like Rachel had. She couldn't just intimidate her into going home. Santana would stand here all night arguing with her rather than listen to her and go home.

So, Quinn did the only thing she could think of—she turned around and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Santana asked.

"Home," Quinn said, shrugging.

"No," Santana said, grabbing her arm. "Not until you tell me why you're out here."

"I told you I was just clearing my head," Quinn lied again.

"That's bullshit and we both know it," Santana replied.

"Well then stay out here the rest of the night if you really want to, but it's getting late and I'm going home," Quinn said, pulling her arm out of Santana's grasp.

"Dammit, Quinn!" Santana yelled, huffing.

Quinn was walking away, smiling to herself. "Want a ride?"

"I have my own damn car here!" Santana said, still yelling.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then," Quinn said as she heard Santana's footsteps coming up behind her.

"I see what you're doing here," Santana said, falling in step beside her. "You think if you play dumb or ignore me that I'm going to drop it, but that's not happening. Neither of us are going to leave this place until you tell me what the hell is going on."

"Actually, I'm leaving right now," Quinn stated. "If you want to stay here, though, go for it."

"No," Santana said, grabbing Quinn's arm again.

Quinn closed her eyes and took a deep breath; Santana was really starting to piss her off. She didn't need this right now and if she didn't back off soon, she didn't know what she was going to do. She was trying not to lose her temper with her, but Santana was starting to get on her last nerve.

"Santana, I am asking you one more time to drop this and go home," Quinn said, hoping to convey her seriousness to the other girl. "I have had a crappy week and I really don't need this right now. I'm tried, my whole body aches, and now you're giving me a headache, so do us both a favor by letting go of my arm and going home."

"What are you going to do if I don't do what you say?" Santana defiantly asked. "I really want to know, Q, because I'm not letting go of your arm and I'm sure as hell not going home until you tell me what you're doing out here and why you have those bruises all over you and why you and Berry were at school, in the middle of the night, getting rid of a ghost. I might not be the smartest bitch alive, but I know something is going on and I can put two and two together; all of those things are connected and I want to know how. What is going on that you can't tell me, but the Hobbit of all people knows."

"So is this about you not knowing or her knowing?" Quinn asked.

Santana frowned at her. "It's about you lying to me!"

"I think you're jealous," Quinn said, shaking her head. "You can't stand that I'm friends with her and she might know something you don't."

"Please, like I would ever be jealous of that thing," Santana said, scoffing.

"It must kill you that she knows and you can't figure it out," Quinn said, smirking.

"Fuck you, Fabray," Santana said, finally letting go of Quinn's arm and walking away.

Quinn sighed; that wasn't how she wanted this going and she was beginning to wonder if she and Santana could ever be friends again. She didn't want to lose the girl completely, but it was starting to feel like there wasn't going to be another option. A part of her wanted to tell Santana the truth, but she didn't know what the other girl would do if she knew. Santana could be too much of a loose cannon and she didn't know if she could trust her enough to know her secret.

Quinn watched as she walked away and silently followed Santana until the other girl was safely in her car and pulling out of the parking space. They might be fighting, but she still didn't want her attacked by a vampire.

* * *

><p>"Fancy meeting you in here."<p>

Rachel looked up to find Santana leaning against the back of the auditorium wall with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

"Can I help you?" Rachel asked after taking a deep breath, trying to ready herself for whatever was about to come.

"You can actually," Santana said, pushing off the wall and slowly making her way down the aisle. "You see, there's the girl we both know and apparently you know something about her that she's hiding, and you might not know this about me, but I don't like it when people keep secrets from me."

Rachel took a calming breath; this was never going to end well. Her only hope was that Quinn got here earlier than she was expecting and could save her from Santana.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel lied.

Santana laughed coldly. "Of course you know what I'm talking about. You and Q keep disappearing together and I saw you with my own eyes last week. You know about whatever is going on in her life and you're going to tell me."

"What makes you think I'm going to do that?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"Because I will make your life hell if you don't," Santana replied, walking up the steps to the stage.

It wasn't really funny, but Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, but haven't you been making my life hell for the past year? You've called me every name you could think of, shoved me around, thrown cold beverages in my face—what are you going to do to me that's worse than that?"

Santana raised her eyebrow. "Do you really want to find out?"

Rachel sighed and shook her head. "Santana, I know it must be incredibly frustrating for you right now, but I'm not going to tell you what you want to know, so stop asking me to."

"Tell me," Santana demanded.

"No," Rachel replied.

"If you think I made your life hell before, you haven't seen anything," Santana threatened.

"Go for it," Rachel said, shrugging. "Quinn is my friend; she trusts me and I don't care what you do to me, but I'm not going to break that trust."

Santana scoffed. "If you think she's your friend, you are delusional. Quinn doesn't care about you; she's only being nice to you because you know her little secret and she doesn't want you to tell the whole school."

"You're wrong," Rachel quietly said.

"You're not so sure, are you?" Santana asked, smirking at her. "Do you really think she would even talk to you if she had the choice? Answer me one thing—when did she finally start talking to you. Was it before or after you found out what she was hiding? I'm guessing it was after because there is no way she willingly became friends with a freak like you."

Rachel sighed. "Can you quit?"

"Why?" Santana asked. "Are you afraid to hear the truth? I know it's what you're thinking; I'm just saying it out loud."

"It's not the truth," Rachel finally said, gaining some volume back in her voice. "She knows I wouldn't tell regardless of how she treats me. I didn't ask her to become friends with me, it just happened."

Santana and Rachel stared at each other, neither of them backing down.

"Okay, you couldn't get it out of me so now you're going after Rachel?" Quinn's voice broke through the silence and the two brunettes looked over to find her standing at the door.

"Well, if you would just tell me what I want to know, I wouldn't have to resort to talking to this thing here," Santana said, motioning in Rachel's direction.

"Just get out of here," Quinn demanded.

"I don't think I'm done with Berry yet," Santana said, turning toward the other girl.

"Yes, you are," Quinn said through gritted teeth.

"It's okay, Quinn," Rachel said, turning toward the blonde but not quite meeting her eyes.

"Did she do anything to you?" Quinn asked, hopping up onto the stage.

Rachel shook her head. "Just being her usual charming self."

"I'll see you later, Berry," Santana said, turning to walk down the steps, but Quinn stopped her.

"Leave her alone," Quinn said as soon as she had the other girl's attention. "This is between you and me, not her."

"Quit pretending like you care about her," Santana whispered, but loud enough for Rachel to hear. "You and me both know that this is a bunch of crap. She's nothing and you're choosing her over me."

Quinn shook her head. "She isn't nothing; don't you get that? She's better than all of us. She saved Brittany's life the other day—and mine— but instead of thanking her, you still do everything you can to bring her down. You owe her and if you stopped being such a bitch to her for five seconds, you would realize that she isn't so bad."

"No," Santana said, shaking her head. "She didn't save anyone."

"She has saved my life twice," Quinn stated. "She saved Britt's life. All of us probably would have ended up hanging from a noose somewhere in the school if Rachel hadn't saved us all—I know I definitely would have been. You can say what you want about her, but she is the reason I'm standing here right now."

Santana looked toward Rachel and opened her mouth but quickly closed it, not saying anything. She then glanced at Quinn for a moment and finally started descending the stairs. Quinn and Rachel watched her until the door had swung shut behind her.

"Did she hurt you?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shrugged and quietly said, "Nothing I haven't heard before."

"You can't listen to anything she says," Quinn said. "Since I won't tell her, she's going to do anything she can to get _you_ to tell her. She's going to say a lot of terrible things, but you can't listen to it."

Rachel nodded and gave her a sad smile. "I know."

"Come on, Coach wants to make sure I don't need to go to the doctor," Quinn said, nodding toward the door.

"How are your ribs today?" Rachel asked.

"Better, I think," Quinn said, shrugging. "It doesn't quite hurt so badly to breath today."

Rachel smiled. "Well, that's always a good thing to hear."

* * *

><p>Rachel heard the doorbell, but didn't get up to get it; she didn't have friends that just stopped by, so she assumed it was either for her dad or someone trying to sell a subscription to something. So, she was surprised when a minute later, there was a light knock on her bedroom door.<p>

"Yeah?" she asked, wondering who was there.

"Can I come in?" she heard Quinn ask from the other side of the door.

"Yeah," Rachel said, smiling to herself.

Quinn opened the door and popped her head in. "I'm not interrupting or anything, am I? I probably should have texted to make sure you weren't doing homework or something. I can leave if you want me to."

"No, it's fine," Rachel said, putting a bookmark in the book she was reading before throwing it onto her nightstand.

Quinn nodded and finally fully entered the room. "Your dad told me to tell you that he's going out."

"Did he say where?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head. "Nope, he just said 'out'."

"He's probably going to the cemetery where Dad is buried," Rachel said quietly. "He seems to do that a lot; it's really the only time he leaves the house. I think he goes there to talk to him."

Quinn nodded, not really knowing what to say.

"So, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked, noticing the awkwardness in the room.

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "I just—I didn't really want to be home." Quinn walked to the bed and sat on the edge of it. "My father is not speaking to me because of my test grade, my mother keeps telling me how disappointed my father is in me, and I just didn't want to sit alone in my room. Sylvester told me to lay low tonight since my ribs are healing and she didn't want to risk them getting hurt again, so I don't really have anything to do for the first time in weeks."

"No homework?" Rachel asked.

"For once I'm caught up," Quinn said, smiling.

"Why didn't you go to Brittany's?" Rachel wondered. "You haven't really seen her much lately."

"I didn't really think to," Quinn said, frowning. "No one else knows what's going on with me right now." Quinn sighed. "I feel like you're the only person I can really talk to. You get what's going on and I just—I don't know. It's easier to be around you."

"So, we're friends?" Rachel asked.

Quinn scoffed. "Of course we're friends; how can you think we're not." Quinn stopped and narrowed her eyes. "What did Santana say to you?"

"Nothing important," Rachel lied.

"Rachel, what did Santana say?" Quinn gently asked.

Rachel took a deep breath and averted her eyes. "She said that the only reason you're friends with me is because I know your secret and you don't want me telling anyone, so you pretend to like me. Logically I know it's not true since I promised I wouldn't tell anyone and there was no stipulation that you had to be nice to me, but—"

"I told you yesterday that you can't listen to anything she says," Quinn interrupted. "I'm not friends with you because you know my secret. Well, I guess in a way I am, but _not_ like she means. If you hadn't seen me that night, I never would have gotten the chance to see who you really are and I probably would have continued to be a bitch to you." Quinn laughed lightly, rolling her eyes at herself. "I would have been too stubborn to ever talk to you, but you didn't really give me a choice. Believe me when I say I'm glad that it happened and Santana is wrong. We're friends and not because I'm worried that you're going to out me as the Slayer. We're friends because you're you and I discovered that I actually like the real Rachel Berry."

Rachel smiled. "Thank you."

"Now, stop listening to the things she says!" Quinn said, playfully pushing Rachel.

"I try, but I can be insecure sometimes," Rachel said, blushing a bit. "I haven't really had a friend before—at least not one that can put up with me for any length of time."

Quinn shrugged. "Their loss."

"Did Santana harass you anymore after lunch today?" Rachel asked.

"Actually, no," Quinn answered, frowning a bit. "Which is surprising since she's been pestering me every chance she gets, but she didn't say anything to me during practice."

"Maybe she's giving up," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn snorted. "Doubtful; Santana doesn't know the meaning of giving up. She goes until she gets what she wants. It would be nice, though. It's bad enough with Coach and my parents both on my back, training, practice, patrolling, school—I really don't know how I'm going to make it through this year without having a complete mental breakdown."

"Easy, you're Quinn Fabray," Rachel said, shrugging and smiling at the blonde.

Quinn laughed. "And what does that mean?"

"It means you can do anything," Rachel simply said. "You'll make it through because it's you; you're used to the pressure and besides, you've got me now."

"Well I hope you're right and I don't flunk out of school and end up a Lima Loser for the rest of my life," Quinn said with a smile.

"That's not going to happen," Rachel stated.

"You sound so confident," Quinn noted.

"I told you: you can do anything," Rachel repeated. "And you're not going to flunk out because I'm not going to let you."

"Does that mean you will do my homework for me?" Quinn asked, smirking.

"Quinn, that is not funny!" Rachel admonished. "I am willing to help you, but you will never learn anything if I do everything for you."

"Oh!" Quinn said, suddenly remembering something. "Did you ever find anything out about the Mistress?"

"I looked, but I didn't find anything," Rachel said, shaking her head. "It sounds to me like some self-appointed title and not actually something I'm going to find online."

"Oh well, it was worth a try," Quinn said.

Rachel started blushing and added, "Mostly I found dominatrix websites."

Quinn laughed, but then looked at the clock and sighed. "I should get going."

"Why?" Rachel asked. "You could stay for dinner."

"I would love to, but my father wants me home," Quinn replied. "I snuck out my window to come here, so I need to get back before they realize I'm missing."

"You should have just stayed home," Rachel said, frowning. "You really don't need to be grounded on top of everything else."

"I know, but I wanted to come here," Quinn said as she stood up. "Talking to you always makes me less stressed."

Rachel smiled. "You could have just called."

"Yeah, but where's' the fun in that?" Quinn asked, cocking her eyebrow. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rach."

"Text me when you get home so I know you're not grounded, okay?" Rachel requested.

"Okay," Quinn replied before shutting the bedroom door behind her.

* * *

><p>"I think Rachel is about to get slushied," Brittany said, looking over Santana's shoulder.<p>

Santana smirked. "Good."

"You should be nicer to her," Brittany said, frowning slightly at her.

Santana scoffed. "Why would I ever be nice to Berry?"

"Because she's Quinn's friend now and Quinn is our friend so that sort of makes Rachel our friend now," Brittany reasoned. "Plus, I think she sort of saved me the other day when all that weird stuff was going on."

"She didn't save you," Santana stated. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"I think she did," Brittany insisted. "I kept hearing this voice inside my head and it was telling me to hurt you guys and then hurt myself. I couldn't control what was happening to me, but then Quinn stopped it and Rachel made it all better."

"You might want to get to Coach's office before she makes you do laps," Santana said, looking at the time.

"Okay," Brittany said, squeezing Santana's hand before shutting her locker and heading toward Sylvester's office.

Santana sighed and looked toward Rachel, who was completely oblivious to one of the hockey team members with a huge cup of slushy only a few feet from her. She looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to her before she pushed off her locker and started walking toward the brunette. She barely got there in time, but as the hockey player raised his hand to launch the drink in her face, Santana hit the side of the cup, sending the red contents flying all over him instead.

She couldn't tell who was more shocked—Rachel or the hockey player—but both of them were staring at her like she had grown a second head or something.

"You might want to go rinse that out," Rachel advised, finally breaking the silence in the hallway. "It will stain your clothes and your hair if you don't wash it out quickly enough."

The hockey player looked at them both incredulously and left without saying a word; he was either too shocked to speak or just too afraid of Santana to say anything to her.

Once he was gone, Rachel turned to Santana with an unreadable expression. "What was that for?"

Santana shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, Berry. I accidentally tripped and knocked the cup."

"Oh, is that it?" Rachel asked, smiling.

Santana quickly checked the hall again, making sure everyone had gone back to minding their own business. Several people were still watching them, though, so Santana shot them a threatening glare and they quickly turned away. "But if it was for anything, it might would for be helping Britt and Quinn last week." Santana averted her gaze and stared down the hall. "And I might be sorry for what I said to you the other day."

Rachel couldn't help but smile. It wasn't really an apology, but this was Santana and it was probably the best she would ever get from her. "Well then I just might accept the apology."

"Whatever," Santana said, glancing at her and then walking away.

"What did she do this time?" Quinn asked, coming up to Rachel as soon as she noticed Santana with her.

"I think Santana just apologized to me," Rachel replied, looking at the brunette's retreating back.

"Apologize? Santana?" Quinn asked. "I don't think she knows how to do that."

Rachel laughed. "Well, she apologized in her own Santana way, which means she didn't exactly say it, but it's what she was doing."

"Why is there slushy all over the floor?" Quinn asked, suddenly noticing she was standing in the sticky stuff.

"One of the hockey team was intent on getting me," Rachel replied.

"So why is it all over the floor and not on you?" Quinn asked, confused.

"Santana stopped him," Rachel answered, causing Quinn to raise her eyebrow in disbelief. "I know, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself, but she knocked it into his face before he could throw it into mine."

"She's up to something," Quinn stated, narrowing her eyes.

"Maybe," Rachel said, shrugging. "But at least I'm not the one in the bathroom, washing out my hair, and trying to dry my clothes before class. Although I do feel kind of bad for him; he didn't see it coming at all."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "How can you feel bad for him?"

"I just know what it's like," Rachel replied. "It's not a very pleasant experience to suddenly have ice-cold liquid thrown in your face; it's especially bad when it ends up in your bra or down your pants."

"Well, I don't think he's going to have to worry about it getting into his bra," Quinn said, grinning.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, but that doesn't make it any less unpleasant for him."

"Rachel, he deserved it," Quinn said, turning Rachel around so she was looking at her.

"Does that mean you deserve to have a slushy thrown in your face?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Quinn said honestly. "I do. And if you ever want to do it, just let me know and I will happily oblige."

"You can't be serious," Rachel replied.

"Of course I am," Quinn said back.

"You know I would never do that," Rachel stated.

"I know," Quinn replied. "But the offer still stands."

"Do you really think Santana is up to something?" Rachel wondered.

"Probably," Quinn replied. "She's _always_ up to something. Just—watch your back and don't let her lull you into a false sense of security. She might be sincere or she might be doing this hoping you'll start talking to her."

Rachel sighed. "You're probably right."

"I hope I'm not," Quinn said.

And she really did hope she was wrong; everything would be so much easier if Rachel and Santana could get alone. She hated feeling like she was losing one of her oldest friends, but if it came down to it, she would chose Rachel over Santana. Rachel had already proven to be a better friend than Santana ever had. Quinn and Santana's friendship had always been volatile; she cared for the other girl, but it was hard to be close to someone when you never knew how they were going to behave toward you from one moment to the next.

"Let's get to class; we're starting that lab today, so if you sit next to me, we can work on it together," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn's hand and pulling her along.

* * *

><p>Quinn looked at the clock—sunset was in just a few minutes. Rachel was sitting across from her, pen in her mouth, working in their lab report while Quinn worked on her World Civ paper. It was the first time she had ever worked with the other girl and it was much different than working with Santana. Rachel insisted on doing the first draft by hand while Santana always tried to get it done as fast as possible, not really caring what grade they go it on, which usually meant Quinn did the majority of the work. Quinn didn't bother asking Rachel why she thought it was better to do it by hand; she thought it was unnecessary, but it was very Rachel, so she didn't fight her on it.<p>

"The sun's almost set," Quinn announced.

"Does that mean I get to go with you tonight?" Rachel excitedly asked.

"It's Friday and I did promise you," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Yay!" Rachel said, jumping off her bed and nearly skipping over to her closet.

Quinn couldn't help but smile; she didn't really understand Rachel's enthusiasm for patrolling, but after she got over her initial nervousness, she really seemed to love going with her. She wasn't always that helpful, but she also wasn't a hindrance, so Quinn usually let her go. At least she made the night go faster and made it less boring.

"Just let me change and then we can go," Rachel said, pulling a trunk out of the closet and then reaching up to grab come clothes.

Quinn watched her walk to the bathroom and then turned to eye the trunk, having never seen it before. "Hey, Rachel?"

"Yeah?" she hollered back.

"What's in the trunk?" Quinn asked.

"Supplies," Rachel answered

Quinn nodded to herself and waited patiently on the bed even though she wanted to go over to the trunk and see what kind of supplied Rachel had in it. When Rachel emerged from the bathroom, she was in a black v-neck shirt, a pair of jeans, and some sneakers. When she went patrolling was the only time Quinn had ever seen Rachel in anything that wasn't a skirt and sweater. She really couldn't understand why the girl didn't dress like this more often.

"So what kind of supplies are in there?" Quinn asked, nodding toward the trunk.

Rachel grabbed her keychain from the dresser, walked to the trunk, and knelt down to unlock it. "I have a little bit of everything." She opened the lid and Quinn walked closer to get a better look. "Stakes, crosses, holy water, some small swords." She pulled off the top portion to reveal another layer. "I also have a few things left over from the exorcism in case we need to do one again."

"Wow," Quinn said, slightly impressed. "You're prepared."

"Of course," Rachel said, grabbing a stake and cross before she closed the lid and locked it. "I just can't let my Daddy find it or he might start asking questions. Although I doubt he will bother coming in here; I don't even think he's noticed that I've been staying out late."

"You're lucky," Quinn said, sighing. "My parents ask me every morning why I was out so late."

"What do you tell them?" Rachel asked.

"I lie and tell them Santana, Brittany, and I have been working on new routines for Sylvester," Quinn replied. "I don't think my mother believes me, but she hasn't actually said anything about it. I'm going to have to think of something else soon, though; I can only pretend to work on routines for so long before it becomes even more obvious that I'm lying."

"It's too bad you can't tell them the truth," Rachel said, pocketing the cross, but keeping the stake in her hand.

"I know, but that'll never happen," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Ready?"

"Always," Rachel replied.

Quinn drove them to the closest cemetery to Rachel's house; it was one of the larger ones, but they had both been there several times before. Quinn parked on the street and turned the engine off; Rachel got out of the car and stood next to it as Quinn went around to the trunk and pulled out her bag of supplies.

"Any fresh graves tonight?" Quinn asked.

Rachel kept track of the obituaries in the Lima newspaper and they would often go to any graveyard where there was a potential supernatural death. It was better getting vampires when they had freshly risen from their coffins since they were usually a bit disoriented and not quite as hard to kill.

"No, it's been kind of quiet the last few days," Rachel replied.

"Do you think that means something?" Quinn wondered.

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know; we could ask Miss Sylvester."

"I might mention it on Monday," Quinn said, looking around. "Left or right first?"

"Left," Rachel said, leading them to the left side of the graveyard.

They quietly walked through the maze of headstones, both keeping their eyes and ears alert. Quinn was more nervous than usual and was trying to be extra cautious. She was afraid that vampire would show up again and hurt Rachel. The past two nights she actually had dreams about it; he was always too fast and would kill Rachel before she could even react. She would watch on in horror, but her arms and legs would never seem to move. She didn't need to make that a reality.

"Whoa," Quinn said, putting her hand out to stop Rachel.

"What is it?" Rachel whispered.

"I thought I saw something moving over there," Quinn said, pointing to a row of headstones at the edge of the cemetery. "Stay behind me."

Quinn slowly started walking to the spot she thought she saw something. When she got nearer, though, the vampire jumped out from behind one of the larger stones, knocked Quinn over, and started running away.

"Okay, oww," Quinn said, holding her side as Rachel helped her up. "Did he really just run away?"

"I think so," Rachel said, frowning in the direction of where he had disappeared. "Should we go after him?"

They both stood there for a moment before Quinn shrugged and continued walking. "Are you doing anything tomorrow? Since Sylvester gave us the day off, I was kind of thinking that maybe we could take it easy and go shopping."

"You want to go shopping? Rachel asked, surprised by the invitation.

"Yeah, I thought we could maybe update your wardrobe," Quinn said, smiling at Rachel.

"Is this your subtle way of telling me you hate the way I dress," Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"I didn't say that—"

"You implied it," Rachel replied.

"I just don't see why you dress the way you do," Quinn said, throwing her arms up. "What you're wearing right now." Quinn motioned to Rachel's body. "It looks really good, but those animal sweaters—not so much."

Rachel huffed. "I am not going shopping with you."

Quinn grinned. "Oh, you know you will."

* * *

><p>He watched from the entrance as the dark haired woman paced around the room. She had a sword—her favorite weapon—in her hand as she walked around, running her hand over every surface she walked past. He didn't know if he was about to bring her good or bad news, but he knew he had to tell her. If she found out he kept it from her, it would be instant death. Of course, if she was upset by what he was about to tell her, it would still be instant death. She was the most powerful vampire in Lima—one of the most powerful in the world—with many other minions at her beck and call, so she wouldn't hesitate to kill him. He was insignificant and he knew it. He had to do it, though, so he clenched his fists, steadying his nerves, and walked into the room with as much confidence as he could muster. The woman was immediately alerted to his presence and stopped pacing so she could stare at him as he walked to the front of the room and stopped a respectable distance from her.<p>

"Mistress." The vampire knelt down onto the ground and bowed his head.

"What is it?" she asked coolly.

"I have some interesting news," he said.

"Get on with it," she irritably said.

"I was observing the Slayer as she patrolled McGregor Cemetery and she had someone with her." He glanced up to gage her reaction, but she was staring at him with an impassive face.

"I fail to see how that is interesting," she said, walking toward him with the sword in her hand.

"It was the girl," he announced.

"What girl?" she asked, clearly losing her patience with him.

"Rachel," he answered. "Mistress Shelby, your daughter appears to be helping the Slayer."

She stopped walking, put the tip of the sword to the ground, and leaned against the hilt. "Well—that is interesting."

* * *

><p><strong>Surprised?<strong>

**As always, reviews are appreciated.**


	5. Unforeseen

**Thank you for all the reviews. To everyone that is asking about whether Shelby was turned before or after she gave birth, obviously I can't say now, but all will eventually be revealed.**

**Phen Name: The Slayer before Quinn was no one we know.**

**total gleek: The artwork was thanks to my best friend, skittles84. I told her what I had envisioned for it and she surprised me with it.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 - Unforeseen<strong>

He ran as fast as his legs would carry him; he weaved under the low hanging branches, but went crashing onto forest floor, tripping over a tree root. He landed on his ankle awkwardly, but got up and started running again, ignoring the pain as much as he could. His shirt sleeve was ripped off on his right side and his arm was mangled pretty badly; blood was still dripping from the open wound, but he had bigger problems to worry about right now.

He didn't know where it had come from, but he knew it was still pursuing him.

He was walking home after football practice when something clamped onto his arm and pulled him into the trees, dragging him through the forest for what felt like an eternity. He finally managed to grab a large stick from the ground with his free hand and blindly hit at it. When it dropped him, he didn't know which way was out, so he started running in a random direction, praying it was the way to safety.

Every now and then, he would hear a twig snap and run in the opposite direction from the sound. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it out there—whatever it was—stalking him, playing with him. It had been for weeks. Every time he went past this patch of woods, he felt like something was tracking his every move. He had told Mike, but his friend just laughed, clapped him on the back, and told him he was being paranoid.

Easy for him to say; he wasn't the one now being chased through the woods by some _thing_.

He heard a low growl and his heart rate picked up, if that was at all possible. It was close; he could practically feel it breathing down his neck yet he still couldn't see it. He finally stopped running and spun in a slow circle, trying to see any sign of movement or get any indication where he should go. There was nothing, though.

If it wasn't for the searing pain in his left arm, he might think he was imagining this.

He strained his ears for anything—any noise—but there wasn't even the sound of birds chirping or the wind rustling leaves. The forest was eerily silent until his screams filled the air. After a few moments, though, there was silence again.

* * *

><p>"What's wrong, Brittany?" Quinn asked as the blonde walked up to her with red eyes.<p>

"Didn't you hear?" Brittany asked, sniffling.

"Hear what?" Quinn asked, taking the other girl's hand and gently tracing circles on the back of it, trying to comfort her.

"Matt's dead," Brittany

"What—how?" Quinn asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"They found him this morning; San didn't say anything else about it, just that he's dead," Brittany answered.

"I'm going to go talk to Santana, okay?" Quinn quietly said. "Rachel is in the auditorium; I'm sure she would love for you to go in there and keep her company while she waits on me."

"Okay," Brittany said, nodding in agreement.

Quinn quickly walked down the hall, looking for Santana; she wanted to know what happened and wanted to know right now. She suspected the girl knew something, but was shielding the details from Brittany as she always did. When she rounded the corner, she saw the familiar bob of Santana's ponytail halfway down the hallway. Quinn ran down the hall, leaving several frightened freshman scrambling to get out of the head Cheerio's way. When she got to Santana, she slowed to a light jog.

"Santana, wait," Quinn said, causing the other girl to turn around. "Brittany just told me about Matt."

"Yeah, rumor has it he was ripped to shreds," Santana said, shrugging.

"How can you act like it's no big deal?" Quinn asked, feeling a twinge of anger. "He was our friend."

"I never said it was no big deal," Santana said, stepping up into Quinn's face.

Quinn swallowed thickly before asking, "What do you know about it?"

Santana scoffed and started laughing sardonically. "You won't tell me shit, you've barely spoken to me since you got your new little pal, and now you expect me to tell you what I know? You know what—fuck you, Fabray."

"Santana," Quinn said, grabbing Santana's arm; the other girl tried to yank it out of her grasp, but Quinn held on tightly. "This isn't a game—I need you to tell me what you know."

"Q!" Santana said, fear flashing through her eyes. "You're hurting my arm."

"Sorry," Quinn mumbled, immediately letting go of her arm.

When she looked down, she saw the imprint of her hand on Santana's arm. She sighed and closed her eyes for a second; she didn't mean to hurt the other girl, but sometimes she forgot her own strength.

"Sorry," Quinn said again, feeling slightly ashamed of herself. "Please—just tell me what you know."

"Why should I?" Santana asked, holding her arm close to her body and rubbing it.

"Because whatever happened to him might happen to someone else," Quinn took a deep breath and looked away, "and I might be able to stop it if I know what happened."

"Why do you think you can stop it?" Santana questioned.

Quinn shrugged. "I never said I could, but I can try."

"I know you're into some weird shit—I've seen it with my own eyes—but you need to stop this, Q," Santana whispered. "I don't know what's going on, but you're going to get yourself killed if you keep getting into things you shouldn't be getting into. I'm not stupid; I know this town isn't normal and I've heard about some pretty damn bad things. You don't want to end up like that."

"What do you know about this town?" Quinn asked, surprised by both the information and Santana's concern for her.

"My cousin's a cop," Santana said, looking around for anyone that could possibly be eavesdropping. "I've overheard him several times talking about things he's seen out there—weird things. Things that can't be explained. I thought he was just making things it, but then I saw what I saw and started thinking that maybe he was telling the truth. If the things he said are true—you need to stop what you're doing. You're not some superhero."

"Santana, I-I can't really explain things to you right now, but can you trust me?" Quinn pleaded. "Right now, I need to know what you know about Matt."

Santana sighed, but nodded. "I don't know a lot—my cousin didn't really go into a lot of details, but I know they found him at the edge of Baker's Woods. He—he said he was hung up from a tree. It didn't sound very pretty, Q; it sounded like something mangled his body. He never made it home from football practice Friday; he was supposed to be spending the weekend at Mike's and Mike just thought he'd bailed, so no one realized he was missing."

"Thanks," Quinn said, quietly. "Brittany is in the auditorium with Rachel if you want to know where she is."

Quinn scoffed. "Why is she in there with the dwarf?"

"Santana," Quinn said, warningly.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I forget that you're actually friends with her now."

"No you don't," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Fine, I guess old habits die hard," Santana said, smirking.

Quinn walked to the auditorium with Santana by her side and it almost felt like old times. Santana was still Santana, but at least the girl was being more civil to her lately. She didn't know what had changed, but she was glad for it.

"Don't tell me you're becoming friends with Berry, too," Santana said, standing inside the auditorium, watching Brittany and Rachel dancing around the stage.

"Did you know there's a club where everyone sings and dances?" Brittany asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

"That's Glee club, Britt," Santana gently said. "That's where all the freaks and losers hang out."

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms, but Brittany just smiled. "But it sounds like fun."

"I swear to God, Berry, I will hunt you down if you—" Santana let out a gasp of air as Quinn's elbow collided with her stomach.

"Stop threatening Rachel," Quinn said, smirking at brunette,

"Jesus, Q," Santana said, rubbing her abdomen. "Cut back on the steroids before you hurt someone—like me!"

"Don't give me a reason to," Quinn said, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

"Come on, B, let's leave the two lovebirds to themselves," Santana said, smirking at Quinn.

Quinn just rolled her eyes and watched Brittany and Santana for a moment at they walked, pinky in pinky, to the door.

"So—you two are friends again?" Rachel asked, looking at Quinn questioningly.

"Not exactly," Quinn replied. "A boy on the football team was killed and Santana knew some information about it."

"And she willingly told you?" Rachel asked, cracking a smile.

Quinn laughed lightly. "Not at first, but I made her come to her senses. I actually think she knows more than I thought she did."

Rachel frowned. "How so?"

"She's figured out that Lima isn't your typical town," Quinn answered. "Her cousin's a cop and he's apparently seen some pretty unexplainable things and Santana has heard about a few of them. Now, she's starting to really figure it all out thanks to that night at the school."

Rachel nodded. "What are you going to do?"

Quinn sighed. "I think I'm going to have to tell Santana the truth. I know I'm not supposed to, but I actually think I might be able to trust her now. It might be nice having someone else on my side and maybe I can keep her and Brittany safer if Santana knows the full extent of what's going on in this town."

Rachel nodded again and Quinn fell silent as she thought of telling Santana. The abrupt change in Santana's attitude was jarring, but not entirely unwelcome.

"Does this mean we have another case?" Rachel suddenly asked, breaking the silence and pulling Quinn out of her thoughts.

"Your excitement frightens me," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"What, it's been a little boring the last few weeks," Rachel said, shrugging.

* * *

><p>"There's nothing," Rachel said, clicking through every website that covered any news that might happen in Lima. "'A William McKinley High School student was found in the woods. He was unresponsive when ambulances arrived. The local Medical Examiner has not released any details at this time' blah, blah. It's the same as everything else; nothing is giving any details about his death or how he was found."<p>

Quinn sighed. "There has to be something."

"I'll keep looking," Rachel said, typing in a new search.

Quinn and Rachel were spending the lunch period tucked into a corner of the library; Rachel had her laptop out on a desk and Quinn was hovering behind her, looking at the screen.

"This is frustrating," Rachel said, coming up empty again.

"It's too bad we can't hack into the Medical Examiner's computer," Quinn joked.

Rachel's face lit up; Quinn took a step back and Rachel said, "I have an idea."

"What?" Quinn asked. "Why would that give you an idea?" Rachel just smiled at her and stood up, leaving Quinn to follow her across the library. "Rachel, wait."

"Hello, Artie," Rachel said, sitting in the empty chair beside the boy.

Quinn didn't know who he was; she just knew he was one of the unpopular students that got picked on a lot and even his wheelchair didn't save him from the bullying.

"Hey, Rachel," he said, smiling at her.

"You're good with computers, right?" Rachel said, much to Quinn's horror.

"Rachel—"

"Yeah, I guess," Artie said, looking between the two girls, obviously wondering what they wanted with him.

"Can you keep a secret?" Rachel whispered.

"I think so," Artie whispered back.

Rachel looked around the room before turning back to Artie and asking, "Can you hack a website?"

"Yeah, no problem," Artie said, smiling smugly.

Rachel pulled out her laptop and set it in front of the boy. "I was wondering if you could allow me to access the Medical Examiner's files using my laptop."

"That would require hacking the password to a government official," Artie stated.

"So, you're saying you can't do it?" Rachel asked in disappointed.

"I didn't say that," Artie corrected. "What do I get out of the deal?"

Rachel shifted her eyes before they landed back on Artie. "What do you want?"

"The Halloween dance is in a few weeks and I want Tina to go with me," Artie rushed out.

"Did you ask her?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"I'm afraid to," Artie admitted, blushing. "I know you two are friends and she probably won't want to go with someone like me, but I was hoping you could convince her."

"I don't think that should be a problem," Rachel replied.

"Great." Artie pulled Rachel's laptop closer and started clicking furiously. "You'll have your laptop back by the end of the day."

"Wonderful," Rachel said, standing up. "Come on, Quinn."

"What the hell was that?" Quinn asked, slightly impressed.

"That was how Rachel Berry gets things done," Rachel said, smiling.

* * *

><p>"The autopsy isn't complete yet," Rachel said, scrolling down the screen.<p>

She was on her bed, lying on her stomach with Quinn beside her. Quinn was working on homework as Rachel went through the Medical Examiner's files.

Quinn sighed. "So your friend did that for nothing?"

"No, not for nothing," Rachel replied. "The police report is in here."

"What does it say?" Quinn asked, putting her notebook aside.

"He was found only several feet from the sidewalk by a man walking his dog. The dog smelled something and started pulling him into the woods and the owner came across the body. He was strung upside down from a tree." Rachel swallowed thickly. "One of his arms was ripped off, his blood was almost completely drained from his body and—oh god, there's pictures."

Rachel looked away from the screen in disgust and noticed Quinn for the first time. The blonde's eyes were slightly red and a single tear was trailing down her cheek.

"Hey," Rachel said, putting her hand over Quinn's. "Are you okay?"

"I knew him," Quinn said, shaking her head. "We were friends. He was one of the few really good guys on the football team. We weren't great friends or anything, but he was always nice to talk to. I feel like it's my fault that I didn't somehow save him."

"You can't blame yourself for every death," Rachel softly said. "You're trying your hardest, but you can't know everything that's out there. It's terrible, but this is Lima—things like this are going to happen. You're the Slayer, but you're just one person."

"I know all of that, but I still feel like I could have done something," Quinn stated.

"Like what?" Rachel gently asked.

"I-I don't know," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"That's because there was nothing you could do," Rachel said, wiping the tears from Quinn's cheeks. "I'm sorry you lost a friend, Quinn."

Quinn sniffed, but smiled sadly up at Rachel. "So, now you save my life and stop me from having emotional breakdowns?"

"Isn't that what friends are for?" Rachel asked, smiling back.

"I think you've gone above and beyond the call of friendship," Quinn said, laughing lightly. "I don't remember killing water monsters or exercising ghosts being on the required list of friend duties."

"Maybe it should be," Rachel joked, shrugging.

"Why, though?" Quinn asked. "Why are you helping me when you could have just walked away after you found everything out? Any sane person would have."

"Friends or not—I didn't want to see you die, Quinn," Rachel answered, sighing. "When I found out, I knew I couldn't let you do it alone. Plus, I know what it feels like to lose someone you love and if I could be there to help you, then maybe I can help stop some other girl from losing her father like I did."

Quinn felt a pang in her chest; she didn't know if it was sadness for Rachel or something else. She just knew that she was never more glad to have someone in her life. Brittany and Santana were her oldest friends and she had no idea if they would be there for her if things got rough. Here was this girl, though, someone she bullied for a year, yet she was willing to risk her life to help her. She knew her own parents probably wouldn't do that.

"What are you thinking?" Rachel asked.

"How amazing you are," Quinn stated.

Rachel blushed and ducked her head. "I'm not."

"Fine, you don't have to believe me," Quinn said, nudging her shoulder into Rachel's. "We've been friends for less than two months and I already don't know what I would do without you, though."

Rachel shook her head. "You're the Slayer, I'm sure you would manage."

"I'm not talking about the Slayer stuff," Quinn replied. "I'm talking about me—I wouldn't know what to do without my best friend."

Rachel's eyes widened slightly. "I thought Santana was your best friend."

"I can't have two best friends?" Quinn asked.

"I suppose," Rachel said, shrugging. "I actually think you're the first best friend I've ever had. People usually get too annoyed by me to stay around for very long, so I've never really developed any lasting bond with them."

"Well, I'm glad I get to be your first." Quinn suddenly realized how that sounded and quickly added, "Best friend."

Rachel giggled. "I must admit, I didn't think it would be you."

"Didn't think I would ever stop being a bitch?" Quinn asked, smirking.

"Honestly—no," Rachel replied. "But I'm glad I was wrong."

Quinn smiled sadly and glanced at the laptop screen. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to look at that."

Rachel followed Quinn's gaze and turned the laptop so she could see it but Quinn couldn't. "I'll look at it."

"You don't have to do that," Quinn quickly replied.

"Believe me, I would rather not see it too, but one of us has to, and you shouldn't see you friend like that," Rachel said, clicking on the link to the pictures.

Quinn looked away even though there was no way she would accidently see it anyway. "How bad it is?"

"Have I mentioned that I hate horror movies?" Rachel asked.

Quinn frowned. "No?"

"Well—this is worse," Rachel said, looking away from the screen. "Can you give me your notebook and a pencil?"

"Sure," Quinn said, tossing it beside Rachel.

Rachel grabbed it and focused on the screen for a moment before she began drawing something on the paper. She glanced up several times before she put the pencil down, seeming satisfied with her work.

"What is it?" Quinn asked, looking at the symbol.

"It was on his chest," Rachel replied.

"Oh." Quinn looked down at the symbol; it was a triangle with a small star in the middle of it and some lines near the corners of the triangle, making smaller triangles at the tips. "Any idea what it is?"

"No, but I'll find out," Rachel replied.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Q," Santana said, taking her usual seat behind Quinn.<p>

"Hi," Quinn replied.

"So—did you find anything out?" Santana asked.

Quinn looked around, but they were near the back of the room and the only other students that had walked in were all sitting near the front. "A few things."

Santana scoffed. "Drop the vague shit and tell me what you know."

"It's not that easy; I'm not supposed to te—"

"Not supposed to what?" Santana interrupted. "Tell your best friend what's going on in your life. Or I guess you have since Berry's your best friend now."

"No—well, yes, but so are you," Quinn replied; she knew it was probably the wrong thing to say, but she wasn't going to lie and deny how much Rachel meant to her.

Santana huffed. "Why is okay for her to know and not me?"

Quinn turned around to look at Santana; the hurt in the other girl's voice was something she had never heard from her before. She looked around the room; the teacher still hadn't entered.

"Grab your stuff," Quinn said, grabbing her bag.

"What?" Santana asked, frowning.

"Come on," Quinn said, walking up the aisle and out the door.

She walked toward the Cheerios locker room, hoping that Santana was behind her. She was halfway down the hall when she heard Santana's hurried footsteps running to catch up with her, neither of them saying a word to one another as they walked to the room. When they got there, Quinn grabbed her key from her bag and took a deep, steadying breath as she inserted the key, unlocking the door. She opened the door and let Santana go ahead of her; Quinn stayed in the doorway for a moment, watching Santana look around. The brunette's eyebrows were scrunched together as her eyes darted around the room, taking it all in.

Slowly, Santana turned to look at Quinn and the blonde finally entered the room, shutting the door softly behind her. "Definitely not a janitor's closet."

Quinn couldn't help but laugh. "No, it's not."

"What is this, Q? What's going on?" Santana nearly whispered.

Quinn swallowed, trying to ease the lump in her throat. "I-I found out in August that I'm—" Quinn took a deep breath and decided to start at the beginning. "Do you remember that day that I passed out on the field? I had been feeling weird all day. After you and Brittany walked me to my car, it wouldn't start, so I decided to walk home. On my way I thought I heard a scream as I passed the cemetery, so I went to make sure no one was hurt. Sue was there. She told me there was a vampire behind me and I thought she was crazy, but there was one. The next day she called me into her office to tell me that I'm the Slayer."

"The Slayer?" Santana repeated.

Quinn nodded. "I have—powers; strength, agility, I heal quicker than normal people—that sort of thing. I'm supposed to fight evil and apparently Lima is full of it. We're on a Hellmouth, so evil things are drawn to it. The town is full of vampires and demons and all other kinds of things most people think are made up. After I fought the vampire in the graveyard that night; I woke up I thought I had dreamed it all, so I know it might take some time for you to accept what I'm saying."

"I think I need to sit down," Santana said, looking around for a place.

"I know it's a lot," Quinn said, watching Santana head over to the bench.

"So all that shit my cousin said really was true?" Santana asked.

"Yes," Quinn replied. "Matt was killed by a demon—a Thailling."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Santana asked, looking up. "Why does Berry know?"

"She was visiting her father's grave and saw me fighting a vampire; the vampire called me the Slayer and she heard it," Quinn said, taking a seat beside her friend and smiling. "She's very persistent—even more than you. She questioned me every chance she got and after a few days, she snuck in here. I told her partly because I didn't have much of a choice and partly because I didn't want to do this alone."

"But—it's Berry," Santana said, shaking her head.

"You know, you might like her if you got to know her," Quinn said, nudging her friend. "She's nothing like I imagined; she's actually fun and makes me laugh. Yes, she can talk a lot sometimes, but it's nice. She just always makes things better and she's saved my life more than once and—what?"

Santana was laughing hysterically and Quinn started glaring at her. "Oh my god—you totally have a thing for her."

"What?" Quinn yelled. "I do not!"

"You do," Santana said, not slowing the laughter down.

"You're insane," Quinn said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Don't deny it," Santana replied and then started mimicking Quinn. "Oh, she's so amazing."

Quinn felt herself blushing and clamped her hand over Santana's mouth before she could say anything else. "Not everyone is like you, Santana."

"What are you talking about?" Santana asked, scowling at her.

"Oh, please," Quinn said, cocking her eyebrow. "How stupid do you think I am? Do you think I didn't hear you two when you were sleeping over at my house?"

Now Santana was blushing. "Shut up. That doesn't make it any less true that you want a piece of Berry's—"

"Do not finish that sentence," Quinn interrupted.

Santana laughed. "I see you stopped denying it."

"That's because you are insane and it's impossible to argue with you even when you are clearly wrong," Quinn said, crossing her arms.

"Sure," Santana said, smirking

Quinn sighed and looked around the room. "You can't tell B."

"I can't lie to her," Santana replied.

"You know I love Brittany, but she tends to let things slip," Quinn said, shaking her head. "My life sort of depends on people not knowing what I am."

"So, like—how strong are you now?" Santana asked, looking around.

Quinn shrugged. "Strong enough."

"Come on," Santana said, standing up and motioning for Quinn to do the same; she walked over to the mat and turned around to stare at Quinn. "Fight me."

"Excuse me?" Quinn asked.

"I wants to see what you got," Santana said, putting her hands up, ready to fight.

"I'll kick your ass," Quinn stated.

"We'll see about that," Santana said, beckoning Quinn over.

Quinn smirked as she stood up; she walked over to Santana and crossed her arms, waiting on Santana to get impatient and make the first move. The brunette did as she predicted and threw the first punch, which Quinn caught in her hand. Quinn used her leg to quickly trip Santana to the ground, causing the girl to grunt.

"You done?" Quinn asked, hovering above her.

Santana narrowed her eyes. "So, when are you going after this thing?"

* * *

><p>"Anything?" Quinn asked, looking over her shoulder at Rachel.<p>

"I am unfortunately coming up empty," Rachel replied. "Other than finding that the symbol is linked to something called a Thailling, I cannot find any information on the actual demon."

"Just keep trying," Quinn said. "I would really rather not go in there completely blind."

Rachel smiled up at her. "I would never let you do that; don't worry, I'll find something."

Quinn felt the pang in her chest again and Santana words kept coming back to her. Could Santana have been right? Could she like Rachel? Her brain was screaming 'no', but she couldn't quite convince herself of it. She was Quinn Fabray, Cheerios captain and most popular girl at McKinley—she couldn't possibly like a girl, right? It couldn't be true; her parents would kick her out without another thought. How many times had she heard her dad ranting about 'faggots'? He would probably be less likely to kick her out if she showed up pregnant.

Quinn sat down in Rachel's desk chair and ran a hand through her hair. She didn't know what to do; she couldn't even figure out if she actually had feelings for the brunette or if she was just letting Santana's words cloud her judgment. She looked over her shoulder again at Rachel, who had her eyebrows furrowed together and bottom lip caught between her teeth; it was the look she always got when she was concentrating. Suddenly, Rachel smiled and looked up, locking eyes with Quinn.

"I think I found something!" Rachel excitedly said.

"Oh?" Quinn said, shaking her head of her previous thoughts. She stood up from the chair and walked across the floor, plopping down beside Rachel. "What did you find?"

"There seems to be limited information because they were thought to have gone extinct in the early 1800s," Rachel replied. "But I found one site that has limited information on them. They're nocturnal and live in the forest. They will come out in the day to stalk their victim before eventually dragging them in the forest to do some ritual—it doesn't really go into any details about that, but that's what the symbol is and why his blood was drained. It also says they can go invisible for limited periods of time, but it creates a shimmering effect in the air if you look hard enough."

Quinn sighed. "Great—an invisible demon."

"A sometimes invisible demon," Rachel corrected.

"That doesn't make it much better," Quinn said, turning her head to look at Rachel.

Rachel turned her head as well and smiled. "It makes it a little better, though."

Quinn swallowed thickly as her eyes roamed all over Rachel's face. Her eyes paused on Rachel's lips briefly and Quinn felt a blush creeping up her neck as she averted her eyes.

"I propose we hunt this thing tonight," Rachel said, standing up to head to her closet, where she pulled out her trunk of supplies.

"Damn Santana," Quinn mumbled, putting her face into her hands.

"What was that?" Rachel asked, turning around to look at the blonde.

"Nothing—how do we kill this thing?" Quinn asked.

Rachel bit her lip in concentration. "I think we should try stabbing it."

"And if that doesn't work?" Quinn asked.

"You're the Slayer here, not me," Rachel said, huffing.

Quinn laughed. "I guess we'll figure something out."

* * *

><p>"How are we supposed to find this thing when I can barely see two feet in front of my face?" Quinn asked, stepping under a low hanging branch.<p>

"I have a flashlight," Rachel offered.

Quinn sighed; she didn't know if it was the best idea, but at this rate, she would never see the thing. "Fine."

Rachel stopped to pull the flashlight out of her backpack; when she flicked it on, Quinn was momentarily blinded.

"Sorry," Rachel said, averting it from Quinn's face.

"Now I can see even less," Quinn said, trying to blink the spots from her eyes.

"Here," Rachel said, offering the flashlight to Quinn.

She reached out to grab it, but her fingers gently brushed Rachel's and she started blushing. Quinn rolled her eyes at her own behavior; she was going to kill Santana the next time she saw her.

They walked for a few minutes when Rachel turned to her and asked, "Are you okay? Wait—-stupid question; your friend was killed out here, of course you're not okay."

"I told Santana," Quinn quietly said.

"You told Santana what?" Rachel asked.

"That I'm the Slayer," Quinn stated.

"What?" Rachel yelled, her voice echoing through the woods.

Quinn rolled her eyes; so maybe it wasn't the best time to tell the brunette. "Why don't you just lead the thing right to us—wait, that might actually be a good idea."

"Sorry," Rachel mumbled through her hand, which she had clamped over her mouth the moment she yelled. "When did you tell Santana?"

"Today at school," Quinn replied, shaking her head. "I didn't want to lie to her anymore; it was becoming too much and she had already figured so much out that I figured I would just go for it and hope for the best."

Rachel nodded and asked, "How did she take it?"

"Even though part of her knew, she was still surprised," Quinn said, shrugging. "I guess hearing it out loud is a bit different than just thinking it. She was Santana, though, so she decided to be a pain in the ass." Quinn laughed lightly. "She wanted to fight me to see what I had."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "What did you do?"

"Knocked her on her ass," Quinn said, smirking.

"Miss Sylvester isn't going to be happy with you," Rachel stated, looking at her in concern.

Quinn sighed. "I know—she can just find a new Slayer if she isn't happy with me."

"You know she can't do that," Rachel replied.

"Then she's going to have to deal with it," Quinn said, shrugging. "I know I'm supposed to have this whole secret identity thing going on, but I don't want to lose everyone that means something to me. If I kept lying to Santana, she would eventually give up on me and I would have lost one of my oldest friends. It just wasn't worth it. Sylvester can yell at me all she wants, but it's not going to change the fact that Santana knows."

"Does this mean Santana's going to be joining us on patrol?" Rachel wondered.

"God, I hope not," Quinn said, laughing. "Can you imagine trying to get her to listen to me? She'd probably march right up to the vampires and tell them how she's going to go all Lima Heights Adjacent on their ass." Quinn shook her head. "Luckily she isn't exactly the type to offer her help, so I doubt she'll want to go—unless it was to see me get my ass kicked."

"Yours is an interesting relationship," Rachel said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Quinn laughed. "Tell me about it."

"I'm glad you told her," Rachel quietly said.

"Really?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah," Rachel replied. "While I enjoyed being the only one to know your secret, she is your best friend and I would have hated to see that friendship deteriorate beyond repair. I know she means a lot to you and while I'm not thrilled at the prospect of spending more time around her, giving her more opportunities to abuse me, I'm glad you confided in her. I just hope she's more civil to me now that she knows we're on the same side since we are bound to have to interact more."

"Don't worry about her," Quinn said, reaching out to squeeze Rachel's hand. "If she says anything to you, I'll kick her ass—and now she knows without a doubt that I can do it."

Rachel smiled at her. "That's unnecessary, but sweet, so thank you for the offer."

Quinn cleared her throat and dropped Rachel's hand. They traipsed around the woods for several hours before admitting defeat for the night. Rachel asked if Quinn wanted to spend the night at her place since it was closer, but Quinn declined. Santana's words wouldn't get out of her head and she didn't know if she could spend the whole night sleeping next to the brunette. She was already likely to be up half the night and she didn't need to add to the likelihood by having Rachel only a few feet away.

When Quinn dropped Rachel off, the brunette smiled at her and told her goodnight. Quinn watched her until she was safely in her house as she always did. When she finally made it home, she went to bed and tossed and turned for hours.

She was going to kill Santana.

* * *

><p>Quinn was watching Rachel talking animatedly across the cafeteria. Instead of sitting with the brunette, she was sitting with Santana and Brittany at the Cheerio's table. Up until a few months ago, it was where she always sat, but it just felt foreign now and she missed eating lunch with Rachel in the auditorium.<p>

"Can you quit being all stalker girl," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"What?" Quinn asked, looking at her friend.

"You've been staring at Berry for the last five minutes," Santana pointed out.

"I wasn't staring at Rachel," Quinn lied, but her blush gave her away.

"It's okay to like her Quinn, she's like super cute," Brittany stated. Quinn and Santana both turned their heads to look at the blonde; Santana had a slight scowl on her face and Quinn just looked surprised. "What? You don't think she's cute? I thought before you said if she wore normal people clothes that you would totally do her."

Santana scowl turned into a blush. "Britt!"

"You said what?" Quinn asked in a harsh whisper, leaning across the table, toward the blushing brunette.

"Calm the fuck down; I didn't mean it," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "Plus, she's never going to stop wearing those horrendous clothes so it doesn't even matter whether or not I meant it. Besides, why does it matter to you what I said since you say you don't like her. You know what, maybe I will take her for a spin; it might get her to loosen up a bit since she is so damn uptight."

Quinn felt like the air was knocked out of her and all she wanted to do was lunge across the table and start pummeling Santana in the face.

"Yeah, you don't like her at all," Santana said, smirking.

"Your face is really red," Brittany said, looking at Quinn in concern.

"I swear to God, Santana, if you ever—"

"Save your threats, Q; I was just trying to see if you would get jealous," Santana said, laughing. "It worked even better than I thought it would."

"Why don't you just tell Rachel you like her?" Brittany asked.

"I do _not_ li—"

"Do not lie to Brittany," Santana said, pointing at her and glaring.

Quinn sighed. "I—"

"It's okay, I know you like her," Brittany stated. "You've liked her since last year."

Quinn and Santana's heads whipped toward Brittany. "What?"

Brittany looked between the two of them, who had matching looks of confusion. "Since that time she sang at freshman assembly. I've never seen Quinn like that before, but she couldn't take her eyes off her and when it was over, she started blushing. It was so obvious that she liked her." Brittany turned from Santana to look at Quinn. "The next day was the first day you asked us to slushy Rachel and I knew it was because you liked her, but didn't want to like her, so you decided to be mean to her."

Quinn frowned—had she really done that? Was that why she had targeting Rachel almost immediately after she saw her?

"Wow, Q," Santana said, chuckling.

"I—" What the hell was she going to say? If she argued, Santana would get mad, but she hadn't even figured out herself if it was true. "I'm going over there."

Santana laughed at her as she walked away; when she approached the other table, Rachel looked up at her and smiled. "Mind if I sit with you guys?"

Rachel removed her bag from the seat beside her. "I was hoping you would.

Quinn smiled. "Thanks."

Every time she sat with them, Kurt and Mercedes looked at her like she was crazy; Tina didn't seem quite as surprised anymore, though and Artie didn't seem to care. She had never actually seen him sitting with them before, but he was sitting next to Tina, so maybe Rachel had kept up her end of the bargain.

"Are you guys going to the memorial?" Artie asked.

"What memorial?" Mercedes asked.

"The one for that football player—Mark Robinson?" Artie replied.

"Matt Rutherford," Quinn corrected.

"When is it?" Rachel asked.

"This evening on the football field," Artie answered.

Everyone looked at each other, shaking their heads no; none of them had known him except Quinn.

"I'm going," Quinn stated.

Rachel gave her knee a light squeeze. "Me too."

"Why?" Mercedes asked. "You didn't even know him and he probably gave you a slushy or two."

Rachel shrugged. "I just want to."

"Have you ever noticed how many memorials we have at this school," Kurt asked. "How can so many people mysteriously die in a town this small? Three people from this school have died within the last month alone."

Quinn coughed awkwardly.

"I hadn't really noticed," Rachel lied.

"I never really thought about it, but now that you mentioned it—yeah, it's a bit weird," Artie said, nodding.

"How are your guys' Glee assignments going?" Rachel asked, trying to change the subject.

"You don't stand a chance of winning this week," Mercedes said smugly, smirking at Rachel.

Quinn scowled and decided she didn't like Mercedes very much.

"Yeah, you're going down," Kurt replied.

And she didn't like Kurt very much, either.

She looked up to notice Tina watching her with a small smile gracing her lips. Quinn did her best to look as indifferent as she could and looked away.

Now she was going to have to kill both Santana _and_ Brittany.

* * *

><p>"I know I always ask this, but are you okay?" Rachel asked.<p>

The memorial had ended and they immediately went back to the woods to search for the demon. They hadn't made plans to do it, but had both headed straight to Quinn's car after the memorial was finished without even discussing it. Hearing everyone speaking about Matt made Quinn more determined than ever to make this thing pay for what it did to him.

Sue made the Cheerios sit together at the memorial, so Quinn had been stuck next to Santana during the thing when all she wanted to do was find Rachel. Even if she wasn't near her, though, it made her feel a bit better just knowing that she was there. Rachel hadn't known Matt and she knew the only reason she was there was to be there for her.

"I will be," Quinn replied.

"What were you and Santana discussing at lunch?" Rachel asked. "You don't have to tell me, but it looked like she said something that upset you."

"She was just being annoying," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Do you want me to kick her ass?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed out loud. "That is something I would pay to see."

"I made you laugh, mission accomplished," Rachel said, smirking.

"You did," Quinn acknowledged.

"I wanted to go to you at the memorial," Rachel admitted. "You looked so sad and I hated that I couldn't make you feel better."

Quinn smiled and ducked her head. "I—did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rachel asked, looking around.

Quinn moved the flashlight all around, looking for the source of the noise. "I heard a twig snap."

"It could have just been a deer," Rachel reasoned.

"Maybe," Quinn said, but her eyes continued to dart around.

Rachel slowly started walking, but paused when she heard the sound of something else snapping. "Okay, I heard it that time."

"I told you," Quinn said, taking a step so she was standing next to Rachel again. "Do you see anything?"

"Nothing," Rachel said, shaking her head. "But I don't really know what I'm looking for; shimmering effect isn't really descriptive, is it?"

Suddenly, Quinn saw something in between two large trees; the air in one spot looked hazy and she took a step towards it. "I think I see something."

"Where?" Rachel asked.

"Where the flashlight it pointed," Quinn replied. "Crap."

Rachel looked at her. "What?"

"I don't see it now," Quinn said, looking around.

"Where is i—"

Rachel suddenly screamed and Quinn whipped her head around to find Rachel being pulled to the ground by a large, furry beast. It looked like a cross between a mammal and some type of reptile. It was about as tall as a small bear and had black patches of fur in between patches of scaly grayish skin. It looked long and had a tail like a lizard, but its body was more rounded and had four stubby legs to hold it up. Right now, it was on its hind legs and had its mouth clamped around Rachel's shoulder from behind; blood was trickling down Rachel's shirt as it started pulling her away. Without hesitating, Quinn lifted up the sword in her hand and slashed it across the left side of its face. It immediately dropped Rachel and vanished.

"Rachel!" Quinn said, kneeling by her side.

"I'm feeling rather dizzy," Rachel said, turning pale.

"Come on," Quinn said, grabbing her by her good arm and pulling her up. "We need to get out of here."

Quinn threw Rachel's arm around her shoulder; she wrapped her left arm around Rachel's waist while carrying the sword and flashlight in her other hand. She went as fast as she could without hurting Rachel even more, but it was hard to move while carrying the brunette and trying to keep an eye out for the creature.

"How are you doing?" Quinn asked.

"It hurts," Rachel answered.

"I'll get us out as quickly as I can," Quinn promised. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Rachel replied, leaning her head against Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn walked for several minutes before she finally saw the light coming from the streetlights. She gave a sigh of relief and quickly made her way to her car, where she deposited Rachel in the backseat and ran around to the driver's side.

"I'm taking you to the emergency room," Quinn stated.

"Don't do that," Rachel replied. groaning. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

Quinn looked back at Rachel and the front of her shirt was soaked through with blood, so she ignored Rachel and took her to the hospital. When they got there, Rachel immediately got in and Quinn was left in the waiting room, pacing. After a little while, a doctor came up and asked Quinn what happened, so she made up a story about something jumping out of the bushes, but said she didn't see what it was. The doctor looked skeptical, but left her alone.

She couldn't believe she had let this happen and was berating herself with every step for letting Rachel come with her. She hadn't been able to protect her and it had made her sick to her stomach—she had even thrown up right after Rachel was admitted.

"Hey," Rachel said, stopping Quinn in her tracks.

"You're okay," Quinn said, finally able to breathe now that Rachel was standing in front of her.

"They said I lost quite a bit of blood, but not enough to require a transfusion," Rachel replied.

"What did they do?" Quinn asked.

"I have stitches and I'm supposed to take a pill everyday so I don't get an infection," Rachel explained. "They thought about keeping me overnight, but I convinced them I was fine. Can you drive me home? I finally got ahold of my Daddy a few minutes ago; he wanted to come down here, but I told him I was just getting out and I would be home as fast as possible."

Quinn nodded. "Of course."

They walked to the car in silence and Quinn drove her home, neither of them saying a word. Quinn felt too guilty to speak and she couldn't tell what was going through the brunette's mind; she normally would have asked, but she was afraid to know the truth. When they pulled into Rachel's drive, they both got out and Quinn walked her to the front door.

"I'll see you at school," Rachel said as she opened the door; she wasn't looking at Quinn and closed the door before the blonde could even respond.

Quinn felt tears coming to her eyes as she walked back to her car. She had been unable to protect Rachel and now the other girl was probably never going to speak to her again.

* * *

><p>When Quinn walked into school the next day, she was terrified of seeing Rachel. All she wanted to do was talk to the other girl, but she was afraid of what she might say. Quinn had been up all night, replaying the events in her head, trying to think of every way in which she failed. She came up with dozens of ways where she could have better protected Rachel and it just made her sick to her stomach again.<p>

"Geez, Q, you look like shit," Santana stated the moment she saw her.

"Thanks," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"What did you do last night?" Santana asked, eyeing her curiously.

"Nothing," Quinn lied.

"Hot night of sex with the dwarf?" Santana asked, smirking.

"I told you not to call her that," Quinn gritted out between her teeth.

"But you didn't deny the hot sex," Santana noted.

"It was nothing like that," Quinn said, turning to glare at the other girl. "I went hunting, okay?"

"For the thing that got Matt?" Santana asked.

"Yes," Quinn replied.

Santana's eyebrows shot up. "Did you find it?"

"Yes," Quinn said, sighing.

"So it's dead then?" Santana asked, looking hopeful.

"It got away," Quinn mumbled.

"What?" Santana asked, stepping closer to Quinn. "How the hell could you let it get away? What if it attacks someone else?"

Quinn lowered her eyes knowing that it _had_ attacked someone else and she stood by as it happened. When she looked up, Santana was looking at her with such anger in her eyes and it made her feel even guiltier.

"Hey," Brittany said, coming up behind Quinn.

"Hey, Brittany," Quinn said, averting her eyes from Santana's.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked. "You look terrible."

"Long night," Quinn stated.

"What happened to Rachel?" Brittany asked, looking down the hall.

Quinn followed the blonde's gaze and saw Rachel walking down the hall. It was obvious through her short sleeved shirt that she had a bandage covering the upper part of her arm.

Santana looked at Quinn and whispered, "What happened?"

Quinn looked at Brittany and then back to Santana and shook her head. She then looked back down the hall at Rachel and watched her go through a door.

Quinn took a deep breath. "I'll see you guys later."

Quinn walked down the hall and followed Rachel through the door she had entered; she looked around and realized it was a room she had never seen before. She looked to the middle of the room and saw Rachel sitting at a piano, with her back to the door.

"Can you play?" Quinn asked.

Rachel jumped slightly. "Not very well."

"How is your arm?" Quinn asked, still standing just inside the door.

"Still hurts," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed. "Rachel—I am so sorry. This is all my fault; I should have never let you go with me."

Rachel turned around. "What are you apologizing for? It wasn't your fault, it was mine."

"What?" Quinn said, scoffing. "Why would you think it was _your_ fault?"

"I should have been more careful," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I should have stayed closer to you and kept a better lookout. I thought you would be mad at me."

"Mad at you?" Quinn started laughing in disbelief. "I thought you would be mad at me. I'm the Slayer—I should have protected you better."

Rachel started laughing too. "So, we're both blaming ourselves, huh?"

"Apparently," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Listen to me, Quinn," Rachel said, standing up and walking over to the blonde. "It was in no way your fault. I know the dangers of going with you, so it's my responsibility if anything happens to me, not yours."

Quinn smiled and then looked around the room. "So, what is this place?"

"The choir room," Rachel replied. "This is where the Glee club meets; it's my second favorite place in the school."

"What's number one?" Quinn asked.

"The auditorium," Rachel answered without hesitation.

"Why the auditorium?" Quinn wondered.

"Because I live for the stage," Rachel replied. "Plus, it's where you and I usually eat lunch, so it holds some of my better memories from this school."

Quinn smiled. "I think the auditorium is my favorite place too."

"So—are we going to look for the Thailling again tonight?" Rachel asked.

Quinn took a deep breath. "I am—you're not."

"What?" Rachel yelled, causing Quinn to jump. "You're not going out there alone!"

"I'm not going to let you get hurt again," Quinn said, crossing here arms. "And don't even try to pout; it's _not_ going to work on me. Not this time. You could have died last night and it would have been my fault. I already lost one friend this week, I can't lose you too."

"But—"

"No, Rachel," Quinn said, putting her hands up. "You're not arguing with me. I'm going to go out there tonight and you're going to stay home."

"What if I come anyway?" Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Rachel," Quinn said quietly, walking up and looking her directly in the eyes. "Swear to me you won't follow me tonight. Please. I can't worry about you; you're already hurt and I can't let that happen again."

"I don't want you going alone," Rachel said, pleading with her eyes.

"I'll be okay," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed. "Do you promise?"

"I promise I'll be okay if you promise to stay home," Quinn stated.

"Fine," Rachel said, huffing.

"Thank you," Quinn said, squeezing Rachel's hand.

* * *

><p>Quinn went that night and made her way to the exact spot Rachel was bitten. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to find the place and she was correct to be afraid; it took her hours to find the spot, but she hoped this was where the Thailling usually was and that maybe she could find it there again. She slowly and quietly walked around the area, looking for anything that looked out of the ordinary. She didn't see anything the first or second time around, but the third time she saw something strange behind some large bushes, near what looked like a small hill.<p>

She walked over to the spot, sword ready by her side, and quietly pulled one side of the bushes away to reveal a cave like structure that seemed to go beneath the ground. After setting the sword against her leg so it wouldn't fall, Quinn removed her backpack from her shoulders and rummage through it for some new batteries since her flashlight was getting dimmer. When she finally pulled them out, she quickly replaced the old ones, threw them in the bag, put the bag back on her shoulder, and grabbed the sword again. She couldn't tell how big the cave was, so she pointed the flashlight toward the entrance; the cave looked rather long and, from where she was standing, she couldn't tell where it ended.

Sighing to herself, she started walking down the small incline; the cave was a few inches shorter than she was, so she had to duck slightly to walk through it. As she walked further along, the cave got a little taller, though, so she was able to walk without hunching over. About twenty feet into the cave, she saw it. It wasn't invisible and was lying in a small alcove, appearing to be asleep.

She slowly crept up to it, holding her breath, and hoping it didn't wake before she got to it. She had the sword raised and when she got close enough, she jabbed it through what she hoped was the thing's chest. It let out a piercing howl and writhed on the ground before falling still. She let out the breath she had been holding and pulled the blade from the creature.

She turned around to leave, but the second she started moving, something knocked her in side and she went flying several feet, colliding with the side of the cave. She groaned when her shoulder hit the wall and looked up when she heard a low growling.

"Oh, crap," she said as she saw another Thailling standing there with its teeth bared. "Extinct my ass."

She looked at her sword, which was lying just under the Thailling's back foot; it had flown out of her hand when she was thrown, but she had managed to hold onto the flashlight. She started to stand, but the demon lunged for her, so she rolled out of the way. The monster crashed into the wall and Quinn scrambled to get her sword. She reached out for it, but the Thailling's tail came crashing down, knocking the sword out of her reach before clipping her across the face.

Quinn ignored the stinging on her cheek and somersaulted over the tail; she grabbed her sword and raised it to strike, but the thing vanished in front of her. She quickly looked around, but didn't see the shimmering effect. Out of nowhere, she was struck in the side, knocking her into the wall again; the craggy wall ripped the sleeve of her shirt and scrapped the skin beneath.

Since she couldn't see it, she started swinging her sword around, hoping she would get a lucky blow, but she was knocked to the ground again. When she was down, she grabbed a handful of rocks and then quickly stood up again and threw the rocks in front of her. Most of them hit the ground, but some of them bounced in midair. She intently lunged with the sword, but was knocked to her feet. She lost her sword again, but when she looked around for it, she noticed it was hanging in midair. The Thailling's cloaking effect slowly started going away and Quinn could see that she had stabbed it in the neck. After a few seconds, it dropped to the ground.

Quinn looked around to make sure she wasn't about to be ambushed again before pulling the sword out of the Thailling's dead body. When she got out of the cave, she looked at the time on her phone and saw that the sun would be rising within the hour, so she gingerly walked through the woods, back to her car. Her entire body was aching from the fight and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep all day, but she had school soon and she knew Rachel would be worried about her if she didn't show.

* * *

><p>She pulled into the parking lot much later than she normally would have; she had gone home to shower and quickly changed since she looked like—well, she looked like she had been fighting a demon in a cave. She walked through the school, looking for Rachel; she checked near the brunette's locker and in the auditorium as well as the training room, but she was in neither of those places. So, she swung by the choir room since it was one of the only other places she could think to look. When she got there, the door was open, but it looked like they were in some sort of meeting, so she lowered herself to the ground, sitting beside the door.<p>

When she glanced in, she could see Rachel didn't look very happy with whatever the teacher was saying. Kurt and Mercedes were sitting at the top of the risers looking rather smug and Tina was sitting next to Rachel; Tina and Artie seemed to be whispering to one another and they were both smiling. What she was surprised to see, though, was her ex-boyfriend sitting on the other side of Rachel. He kept glancing at the brunette and smiling softly and Quinn wanted to march in there and wipe the smile right off his face by any means necessary.

She assumed they had been dismissed because everyone got up at once and started walking toward the door. Rachel was lagging behind, though, because Finn had stopped her to talk. Tina smiled at her on the way out and Quinn returned her smile, but quickly looked back into the choir room and glared holes in the side of Finn's head. Rachel started laughing at something he had said and Quinn jumped to her feet when Finn brushed a strand of hair from Rachel's face. Rachel blushed and turned her head, which made her finally notice Quinn standing in the door.

"Oh my god," Rachel said, rushing over to Quinn, and pulling her into a tight hug. "You're okay."

Quinn instantly softened and wrapped her arms around the other girl. "I promised you I would be."

"I was so worried about you," Rachel whispered almost directly into her ear.

Finn had narrowed his eyes as he watched Rachel and Quinn hug, but Quinn just smirked at him over Rachel's shoulder.

"You didn't get too hurt, did you?" Rachel asked quietly as she pulled away; she still kept one of her hands on Quinn's shoulder while the other reached out to trace the cut on her cheek.

Quinn was in her Cheerios uniform so the bruises on her shoulder and scrapes along her arm were visible and Rachel was eyeing them. "No—this is the worst of it." Quinn moved her arm so Rachel could see it better. "I just got thrown around a bit, but I'm okay."

"About what I was asking," Finn interrupted them, walking up to Rachel.

"Sorry, Finn," Rachel said, pulling completely away from Quinn, and looking at the boy. "You're sweet, but I'm not interesting in pursuing a romantic relationship at this time."

"Not even one date?" Finn asked, frowning.

"Not even one date," Rachel confirmed.

Finn sighed and stalked off; Quinn glared at his retreating figure and Rachel started laughing at the look on her face.

Quinn huffed. "What?"

"Nothing," Rachel said, giggling a bit.

"I didn't know he was in Glee club," Quinn said annoyed.

"Mr. Schue thought we needed a leading man and I agree, but I wish he could have found someone that was capable of even simple choreography. Sectionals isn't far off, though, and if we don't have twelve people, we can't even compete, and since we are obviously in dire need of more students, I can't complain too much about his presence. I just wish he would stop asking me out."

"That wasn't the first time?" Quinn asked.

"No, but he can't seem to take a hint that I'm not interested in him." Rachel sighed, but then looked at Quinn and smiled. "So, I've been wondering about something."

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Can you sing?" Rachel asked, looking expectantly at her.

Quinn sighed to herself; with Rachel looking at her like that, she didn't know if she could say no.

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies if any of you liked Matt on the show, but you'll soon find out that no one is safe in this story.<strong>

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	6. Bruises

**JaniceHope: Thank you. I've been told before that I have an odd writing style, so it's nice to know someone actually likes it.**

**mythic-lionheart and kezztip: Thank you both since I'm sure there are quite a few out there.**

**ToastedMarshmellow08: I would actually like to read that five page analysis if you ever feel like writing it ;).**

**runningfromtuesday: I'm kind of sad and I can't watch it either; I guess it's a good thing I have a vivid imagination and see it all in my head as I write it.**

**Fussyviolet: :)**

**To everyone else: Thank you for the comments; I wish I could reply to each of you, but I'm going to shut up now so you can get on with the reading.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Bruises<strong>

Quinn jabbed the stake into a blonde, curly haired vampire's chest; the vampire exploded into dust and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. She looked down and dusted off her jeans, getting the dust from the vampire, as well as the dirt from the fight, off her clothes. So far, it had been a busy night; that was the fourth vampire she had slain. Normally a busy night was usually, at most, two vampires, but they seemed to be out in full force tonight. She didn't know if there was a reason for it or just coincidence, but she was going to see if Rachel would check into it if she had the time.

She felt bad for how much she depended on Rachel, but with everything going on, she really didn't have time to do the research side of things. Plus, the brunette was a lot better at it than she was; Quinn was never one to sit at a computer all day, but Rachel didn't seem to mind it at all and actually seemed to like helping her.

When Quinn looked at her watch, she noticed it was well after three in the morning. Sighing, she grabbed her bag from a nearby headstone and started walking toward the exit. She had practice in less than three hours, so it looked like she was going to spend another day running on no sleep.

She drove through the empty streets and made it home in five minutes. When she walked into her house, she noticed the kitchen light was on, which was strange since everyone was always asleep by the time she got in. She didn't know if it was her mother or her father, but either way, she didn't want them knowing she had just come home, so she quietly crept up the stairs, bypassing the third step, which always squeaked. She was on the next to the last step when she heard her mother call out her name. Sighing, she walked back down the steps to see her mother standing in the kitchen, looking at her.

"Yes, mother?" Quinn said as evenly as she could.

"Come here," her mother commanded.

Quinn quietly sighed and did as she was told; she walked into the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools at the island. She wasn't looking at her mother, but she knew the woman was staring at her.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I was at Brittany's," Quinn lied.

"That's funny, because that girl called here tonight wondering if you were home because you weren't answering your phone," her mother replied.

Quinn internally groaned, but didn't say anything.

"So, would you like to try again?" her mother asked. "Where were you?"

"I was just—out," Quinn replied.

When Quinn looked up, her mother narrowed her eyes at her. "Were you with a boy?"

"No," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "I wasn't with anyone."

"Because I will not let you bring shame on this family by gallivanting around with some boy," her mother continued like Quinn had never responded. "You are a good Christian girl; I want you to remember that."

"I told you I wasn't with a boy," Quinn said, annoyed.

"Quinn," her mother said, tilting her head.

"What?" Quinn asked. "I'm telling the truth, okay? I was out and I wasn't with anyone; I was just—walking around."

Her mother raised her eyebrow. "Until three in the morning."

"Yes," Quinn replied.

Her mother walked around the island and stood in front of her, crossing her arms. "You need to be careful; people in this town talk. Your father is hoping to get a promotion and he won't be happy if you ruin it for him. You are a Fabray and you need to start acting more like one. So start choosing your friends a little more wisely and stop staying out at all hours of the night."

Quinn frowned as her mother turned around and walked away. Quinn sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what her mother meant about choosing her friends. She momentarily wondered if she could possibly be talking about Rachel, but how would her mother know they were friends? She was probably just talking about Santana and Brittany, though, or as her mother called them, the simple girl and the delinquent.

Quinn shook her head and turned off the kitchen light. As she walked up the stairs, she couldn't help but wonder if her mother _had_ found out about her being friends with Rachel. If she had, she knew the conversation was far from over. Her parents had never approved of a family like the Berrys living in Lima and they would never allow her to be friends with someone like Rachel. She would get a long lecture on how being friends with some like 'that' affects the entire family's reputation and would probably be grounded. It was the reason she always went to Rachel's and never invited the girl over; she didn't want to risk her parents finding out. They would make her stay away from Rachel, but there was no way that was going to happen, so she was trying to avoid the situation from happening. So, if she had to lie to her parents, then that was what she was going to do; it was just another thing on the growing list that she couldn't ever tell them about.

* * *

><p>The bell rang and everyone started gathering their things, but Quinn groaned and put her forehead on the desk. Tina threw her a sympathetic look as she passed by and Puck raised an eyebrow as he walked out. She sighed and lifted her head from the desk, throwing her test into her bag, and walking to her next class.<p>

When she walked in the room, Santana and Rachel were both there already. Quinn looked between them, not knowing who to sit with; Santana was scowling at her and Rachel smiled the moment she saw her.

"I'm sitting with Rachel today," Quinn whispered to Santana.

"Hoping to play footsie under the table?" Santana whispered back, smirking.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Can you not say things like that out loud?"

Santana's smirk grew wider as she glanced back at Rachel. "Oh, you mean things like how you want to fu—"

Quinn clamped her hand over Santana's mouth and scowled at her. "I swear, if you ever finish that sentence, I will hurt you."

"I'd like to see you try," Santana said, laughing at her.

Quinn rolled her eyes again and took the seat next to Rachel; the girl visibly brightened when she took the seat, sitting up straighter and smiling wider.

"Hope you don't mind," Quinn said as she pulled her binder out of her bag.

"No," Rachel quickly said. "I was just surprised you didn't sit with Santana now that you two have made up."

Quinn shrugged. "I figured I would alternate weeks or something."

Rachel nodded and then asked, "Have you started studying for Wednesday's test yet?"

"No," Quinn replied, looking away.

"Well, we'll start tonight, then," Rachel said, shrugging.

"I can't," Quinn said, sighing. "I have to patrol."

"I will come with you," Rachel stated. "I can help you go over the material while you're doing your Slayer duty and then tomorrow night, you can come over to my house and we can study some more."

"Are you sure you have the time?" Quinn asked.

"Of course," Rachel replied. "I told you last time—I'm going to help you."

"I know, but you shouldn't have to do this just because you feel sorry for me or whatever," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Quinn," Rachel quietly said, getting the blonde to look at her. "We're friends; I don't feel sorry for you. I just know you have enough going on in your life and I want to do whatever I can to make things easier on you. I know you didn't do great on the last test; we need to get you an A on this one, so your grades don't start slipping.

Quinn sighed and reached into her bag, pulling her English test out. "In my last class, I got my test back that we took a few weeks ago. I got a seventy-one percent." Quinn shook her head. "I tried to read the book, but I had so much else to do that I didn't quite make it through it. My parents are going to kill me if they find out."

"So don't let them know," Rachel replied.

Quinn fake gasped. "You want me to lie to my parents?"

Rachel laughed and elbowed Quinn in the side. "Well, we wouldn't want you parents grounding you, would we? How would you save the world from evil if you weren't allowed to leave your bedroom?"

"Oh, speaking of evil," Quinn said, smiling. "You haven't happened to run across anything going on this week, have you?"

"Like what?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"I don't know, but I slayed four vampires last night, which is a lot for one night," Quinn whispered. "I was just wondering if maybe there's a reason they're out in force right now."

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know, but I can look into it after school and see if I can find out anything."

"Thanks," Quinn said, smiling.

Santana turned around and raised her eyebrow at Quinn, who scowled at the girl; Santana just smirked and turned back around. Rachel noticed the exchanged and looked at Quinn questioningly.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked.

"Who knows," Quinn said, shrugging and yawning.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, putting her hand on Quinn's forehead. "I didn't want to say anything, but you look terrible today."

Quinn laughed sardonically. "Gee, thanks."

"I'm serious," Rachel said, frowning at her, and removing her hand. "Have you been getting enough sleep? Because if you're not, you really do need to start trying to get the recommended amount. As a teenager, you should be getting around nine hours a night, which is why I go to bed so early."

Quinn shook her head, smiling. "I would love nine hours of sleep a night, but there's no way that's going to happen."

"Fine, but you should attempt to get more than you are right now," Rachel said, looking at her in concern. "How much _did_ you sleep last night?"

"Two hours, maybe," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Quinn!" Rachel said, gasping.

"I was out patrolling late," Quinn quietly said, shrugging. "And then I had practice early."

"You really should talk to Miss Sylvester about those morning practices," Rachel suggested. "She's your Watcher; she should care more about that than some cheerleading competition. Maybe she will let you miss your morning practices if she knows you were patrolling the night before."

Quinn couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, but I don't see that happened. I think the only way she would let any of us miss practice is if we were dead, and even then she would want proof."

"Can you at least try to ask her?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed. "Yeah, I'll try."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe she refused," Rachel said, slamming her door.<p>

Quinn was smiling at Rachel's tantrum; she had been ranting the whole way to the cemetery. "What did you expect? You know how she is."

"But you're her Slayer!" Rachel said, huffing.

"Which means nothing to her," Quinn replied. "She thinks I should be able to handle everything."

"Easy for her to say," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips. "She isn't the one having to juggle twenty things as once; she doesn't care at all about your education because if she did, she would see that your schoolwork is slipping. Is there anyone we can report her to like some board of Watchers?"

"Rachel, it's okay," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"But you're too stressed," Rachel said, leaving the car and following Quinn toward the entrance of the graveyard. "It's not good for your health, you know."

"I'll be fine," Quinn said, ignoring Rachel's huff of protest.

"Quinn!" Rachel whined.

"Rachel!" Quinn mocked, smiling.

"I think you should quit the Cheerios," Rachel stated.

Quinn laughed. "Sylvester would kill me and if she didn't, my parents would kill me. And then Santana would try to bring me back to life so she could kill me."

"Instead, this stress is going to kill you," Rachel mumbled.

Quinn sighed. "Rachel, I'm not disagreeing with you. I know I have too much going on—there's the slaying, school, Cheerios, my parents. I know it's a lot, but I'm doing the best I can."

"I'm just worried about you," Rachel quietly said.

"I know," Quinn replied softly, reaching her hand back to squeeze Rachel's.

If it had been anyone else, she would have found it annoying that they thought she couldn't take care of herself, but it was Rachel and Quinn actually thought it was sweet that the other girl was so worried about her. She knew Rachel was just genuinely concerned for her and trying to help, so instead of annoying her, it made her smile.

"Now, are you done ranting so you can tell me if you found anything or not?" Quinn asked, smirking.

Rachel scowled at her before saying, "I found some reference to Wednesday being the Ritus Day, but I couldn't really find out what that is, so I don't know if that's what it is or if the whole vampires being out in force thing is just a coincidence."

"Ritus Day?" Quinn repeated.

Rachel nodded. "It's Latin; it means like ritual or ceremony."

"Sounds fun," Quinn deadpanned.

"I'm sorry I couldn't find anything else," Rachel said, glancing at her.

"It's not your fault." Quinn shrugged and threw her bag down by a particularly large headstone.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, watching her.

"Making you more comfortable," Quinn said, pulling a blanket out, and spreading it on the ground between headstones.

"Shouldn't we walk around?" Rachel asked.

"It's a small cemetery," Quinn shrugged, "and I can see everything from here, so let's sit, study, and if anything comes up, I can go kill it. Sylvester said I had to patrol every night this week, but she didn't say how I had to do it."

Rachel looked around for a moment, appearing apprehensive, but then she sat down and said, "Okay."

"Here." Quinn threw her Chemistry book next to Rachel and jumped up to sit on one of the headstones near the blanket.

"Should you really be sitting up there," Rachel asked, grimacing. "Isn't that sort of disrespectful?"

Quinn shrugged. "There's no body down there; he was the third vampire I dusted."

Rachel frowned, but opened up the book. "Okay, what—"

"Vampire," Quinn stated, jumping up.

"I didn't even ask a question!" Rachel said, huffing.

"Behind you," Quinn clarified.

"Oh, right," Rachel said, shaking her head at herself.

Quinn grabbed a stake from her bag and sprinted over to the vampire, who was advancing on Rachel. As soon as Quinn got close enough, she kicked, her foot landing squarely in his chest, knocking him to the ground. He quickly flipped back up onto his feet and punched her in the mouth, which Quinn countered with a punch to his face followed by a knee to his stomach. When he doubled over from the impact, Quinn stuck the stake in his back and a few seconds later, he exploded into dust.

"You're getting a lot better at that," Rachel commented, looking over her shoulder.

Quinn smiled. "Thank you."

"You're bleeding," Rachel said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a tissue.

Quinn took it and put it to her lip before pulling it away to see how bad it was. "Barely."

"You should really try to avoid getting punched in the face," Rachel said, grinning at her.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Seriously, people are going to start wondering if you come to school every day with a busted lip," Rachel said, raising her eyebrow at the blonde.

"I heal quickly," Quinn replied. "It'll be mostly healed by morning, so no one will notice anything. Besides, people in this town don't seem to notice anything unless it's right in their face. And if they do notice and have the nerve to ask, I'll just glare at them until they go away."

Rachel laughed. "And that will work?"

"It does with most people," Quinn said, shrugging. "You seemed to be the exception."

Rachel smiled and cast her eyes back to the book. "Okay, let's get back to work; wha—"

"Another vampire," Quinn interrupted.

Rachel groaned. "Seriously!"

* * *

><p>It was almost four in the morning by the time Quinn and Rachel left the cemetery; Rachel had fallen asleep an hour before and Quinn slayed a total of five vampires throughout the night. Instead of waking her, Quinn carried the other girl to the car and set her in the passenger seat. By the time she pulled into Rachel's driveway, the brunette had put her head on Quinn's shoulder, sound asleep; she felt bad for having to finally wake her, but there was no way she would be able to get her out of the car, in the house, and carry her up to her room without waking her anyway.<p>

"Rach," Quinn quietly said, putting her hand on the other girl's knee, and gently shaking her.

Rachel mumbled and shifted slightly, but her eyes remained closed. Quinn smiled at the sight and shook the girl a little harder; this time, her eyes opened and looked up at Quinn.

"Hi," Rachel groggily said.

"Hey," Quinn said, smiling at her. "You're home."

"What time is it?" Rachel asked, lifting her head up and looking around.

"Around four," Quinn answered.

Rachel bolted up and her eyes widened. "I have to be up in two hours!"

Quinn laughed lightly. "Welcome to my world. Go get some sleep; I'll see you at school in a few hours."

"Goodnight," Rachel said, opening her door.

Quinn watched her until she was safely in her house and then she drove to her own house to get what little sleep she could. When she walked in, she noticed the kitchen light was off and breathed a sigh of relief; at least her mother wasn't up to question her this time. She quietly walked up the stairs, hoping to not wake anyone, and went into her room. When she closed the door, she reached over to turn on the light, but before she could, the light by the bed flicked on and she froze. She looked at her bed with wide eyes, staring directly at her father.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"I was studying," Quinn replied.

"Like hell you were," her father said, standing up.

"I was," Quinn replied.

"Don't lie!" her father yelled, causing her to flinch. "It's four a.m.!"

"I'm not lying," Quinn replied. "I have a Chemistry test in two days—well, tomorrow now."

"Who were you studying with," he asked, crossing his arms.

Her first instinct was to say Santana, but she was honestly afraid to lie. What if the girl had called tonight like Brittany had; then, he wouldn't believe her about the studying even though it was the truth.

"I was with my lab partner," Quinn answered.

Her father clenched his jaw as he stared at her. "And who is you lab partner?"

"Her name is Rachel," Quinn said, looking away.

"Rachel what?" he asked.

Quinn sighed and closed her eyes. "Rachel Berry."

Quinn recoiled a bit when he got right in her face and asked, "Why are you lab partners with filth like that? You're a Fabray and I will not allow my daughter to be associated with some sinner like the daughter of those disgusting faggots. You know why one of them died? It's because God doesn't want people like that existing."

Tears sprang to Quinn's eyes as she looked away.

"I want you to promise me you will never associate with that girl again," her father said, turning her head to face him.

"No," Quinn said, moving her head out of his grasp.

"Excuse me?" he asked, looking at her.

Her parents not knowing she was friends with Rachel was one thing, but promising to never talk to the girl was another thing and she wasn't going to do it. Rachel was her best friend; she wasn't going to promise it because it would seem like she was agreeing with their view of the girl and she wasn't going to let them think that.

"Rachel is my friend," Quinn stated. "I'm not going to promise to never talk to her again because I would be lying and you wouldn't want that, would you?"

She looked away and didn't even see her father's hand coming; he slapped her across the face and it knocked her over, her lip hitting the dresser on the way down. When she finally regained her balance, she stood up straight and turned to her father. They looked at each other for several seconds before he turned and walked out of the room.

Quinn closed her eyes briefly, before opening them back up, and walking over to close her door. She immediately locked the door and slid down it, putting her face in her hands, and crying. She allowed herself to stay like that for a few minutes before she stood up and walked to the bathroom.

When she turned on the light, she looked into the mirror and stared at herself; sometimes, she barely recognized herself. She always had dark circles under her eyes, she was paler than usual, and right now, blood was pouring from the cut on her lip.

She turned on the cold water and grabbed the washcloth from the nearby towel rack; she wet it and put it to her lip, sighing the moment it hit her skin. She quickly grabbed a pair of shorts and tank top from the bathroom floor and threw off her dirty clothes. As soon as she walked into her bedroom again, she heard her phone buzzing in her bag.

When she opened her phone, she found a text from Rachel asking if she had made it home okay. She smiled at the gesture, but then grimaced from the pain in her lip. Quinn typed out a quick reply saying she was home and then crawled into bed. As soon as she was under the covers and the light was off, she looked at the clock—she had to be up in an hour.

* * *

><p>Quinn felt someone poke her in the ribs and she bolted upright; she rubbed her eyes and looked behind her to see Brittany and Santana standing there.<p>

"Why are you sleeping?" Brittany asked.

Quinn yawned and looked around to see almost everyone at the table staring at her. "I didn't get any sleep last night."

"You do look like shit," Santana said, smirking. "Still, it's no reason to fall asleep at the loser table."

"Hey!" Rachel said, scowling at the other girl.

Brittany sat down next to Quinn and Santana rolled her eyes, showing her distaste for being seen at the table, but sat down anyway. Quinn smirked at how whipped she was and then looked around to see the stunned looks on the faces of everyone else at the table. They were used to her sitting with them now, but the appearance of two more Cheerios seemed to be too much for some of them.

"Put your eyes back in your sockets," Santana snapped at them.

"Well, I guess I will be the one to officially welcome you to the 'loser table'," Rachel said, making quotation marks with her fingers.

"Just because you're Q's friend doesn't mean I won't kick your ass," Santana said, pointing at Rachel.

"Don't listen to her," Brittany said, smiling at Rachel. "She likes you."

Santana scoffed. "I do not!"

"Then why did you say—hey, Quinn, what happened to your lip?" Brittany was looking at Quinn and frowning sadly.

"I wasn't watching where I was going and ran into a pole," Quinn lied.

Now Rachel was staring at her and frowning; she leaned forward and whispered, "Why does that look worse than last night?"

Quinn shrugged, but she didn't respond to Rachel's question

"Come with me," Santana said, gripping her arm tightly.

Quinn didn't want to go anywhere with the other girl, but she didn't want her causing a scene, so she followed her out of the cafeteria. When they were in the hall, Santana turned toward her, crossing her arms.

"How did you really get it?" Santana asked.

"I was fighting a vampire," Quinn replied. "He hit me, I killed him—I call it even."

"Was Berry with you last night?" Santana asked, pointing toward the cafeteria door.

"Yes," Quinn replied, not knowing what that had to do with anything.

Santana nodded and left without another word; Quinn threw her arms up in annoyance and walked back into the cafeteria just in time to see Santana dragging Rachel out through the door on the other side of the room. Quinn frowned and quickly jogged across the room to follow them.

"She did, but it looks worse today than it did last night," she heard Rachel say, halfway down the hall. "By the time she drove me home, it was already closed, so I don't know if something else happened."

"Hey there, Q," Santana said, turned to her. "Your bestest friend here seems to think something else happened to you last night."

"I told you—"

"I know what you told me," Santana interrupted, "but I think you're lying to me. Does anyone want to hear my theory for how Quinn got her busted lip?" Santana looked between Rachel, who seemed very confused, and Quinn. "Because I have a pretty good idea how it might have happened."

"What are you talking about, Santana?" Rachel asked.

"Please don't," Quinn said, closing her eyes.

"Remember what I promised to do last time?" Santana asked, crossing her arms. "Well, that still stands and he better stay away from me if he knows what's good for him because I will beat the shit out of him."

Santana threw her one last pointed look before walking away.

"What is she talking about?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed. "It's nothing, okay."

"Obviously it's something if Santana is threatening to beat someone," Rachel replied.

"Actually, that's just any normal day of the week," Quinn joked, but Rachel scowled at her. "Just—don't worry about it, okay? Please."

"Quinn—"

Quinn shook her head. "No—please just ignore it. I really don't want to talk about it right now."

Rachel's eyes softened and she walked up to Quinn and gently put her hand on Quinn's cheek, turning her head slightly to get a better look at her lip.

"We should go to the training room and get you an icepack," Rachel softly said.

Quinn shook her head. "I'm okay."

Rachel swiped her thumb over the cut and Quinn flinched at the action. "Obviously you're not okay."

"It's fine," Quinn said, putting her hand on Rachel's and pulling it away.

"If you're not going to tell me what happened to you after you went home last night, will you at least do this for me?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed but nodded and Rachel entwined their fingers together, pulling her toward the locker room.

She hated lying to the other girl, but she didn't want the look of pity that she would inevitably get if Rachel knew the truth. Plus, she was afraid of what the other girl would do. Rachel was small, but she had a feeling that wouldn't matter to her She could imagine the brunette going up to her father and threatening him if he ever touched her again and that thought terrified Quinn. If he was willing to hit his own daughter, what would he do to something like Rachel—someone he thought was filth and considered beneath him.

* * *

><p>"Can we take a break?" Quinn asked, rubbing her temples. "I think my brain is turning to mush."<p>

"It is not," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "But yes, we can take a break."

"Thank you," Quinn said, flopping back on the bed.

Rachel laughed, watching her. "I'm going to get something to drink; do you want anything."

"Water," Quinn said with a shrug.

"I'll be right back," Rachel said, bounding off the bed and out of the room.

Quinn watched her and smiled; Rachel made her forget everything going on in her life—if only for a moment. Whenever she was around the brunette, her life didn't seem nearly as stressful and she made her forget about all the bad. Rachel was always so optimistic and happy and it was hard not to feel the same way when she was around her. She knew Sylvester wouldn't be very happy with her the next day when she found out she had skipped patrolling, but right now, she really didn't care. She couldn't afford another bad grade in Chemistry; as it was, she could still get an A in the class and Rachel was going to help her get it. Quinn wasn't so sure she could cram everything into her head by morning, but the other girl was determined and had that crazy glint in her eye.

After several minutes, Quinn wondered why Rachel was taking so long and looked up to see her standing in the doorway watching her. Rachel cleared her throat and walking the rest of the way into the room.

Quinn looked at her questioningly. "Why were you standing there?"

Rachel shrugged. "I brought you a few peanut butter cookies as well; I think Daddy made them earlier today, so they should be fresh."

"Thanks," Quinn said, picking up the bottle of water from the bed and grabbing a cookie from the napkin. "Is he—doing any better."

"I don't really know," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I've been trying to get him to talk to someone, but he just says he's fine. I know he's not fine, though; it's been two months since Dad died and Daddy has been the same the this entire time. It's like he doesn't know how to function anymore. He goes to work most days, he bakes, he goes to the cemetery—he really needs to talk to someone, but he won't listen to me."

"I'm sorry," Quinn said, frowning. "I'm sure it will get better, though; it's just going to take time."

"I hope so," Rachel whispered. "I've already lost one father and now I feel like I've lost him even though he's right here." Rachel cleared her throat again and picked at a string from the comforter they were sitting on. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" Quinn asked through a mouthful of cookie.

Rachel swallow thickly and finally looked at her. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but I think you should. We're friends, right? Friends tell each other things, so please tell me what happened last night."

"You're right—I don't want to talk about it," Quinn said, taking a drink from the bottle.

"Quinn, please," Rachel said, looking at her with pleading eyes. "What happened that you can't tell me?"

Quinn groaned in frustration and put her head in her hands, trying not to let the tears escape her eyes. She hated this—she hated that her father was making her lie to her best friend. She wanted nothing more than to be able to tell Rachel, but she couldn't. She couldn't see that look on her face when she found out the truth and she didn't even want to admit herself.

"Quinn," Rachel softly said.

Quinn didn't look up, but stayed in the same position; she stiffened slightly when she felt Rachel's hand on her back, but otherwise remained immobile. The brunette started rubbing circles on her back and only stopped after a few minutes to pull Quinn into a hug.

"It's okay," Rachel whispered into Quinn's ear. "I just want to know so I can help you—I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

"I'm sorry," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel let go of Quinn and pulled back slightly to wipe the tears from the blonde's cheeks. "You can trust me, you know."

"I know," Quinn replied. "Believe me, I trust you with me life, but please don't ask me about this again."

Rachel sighed, but resignedly nodded her head.

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"I'm always here for you if you ever do decide that you want to discuss it," Rachel said, kissing Quinn's cheek, causing her to blush.

"I know," Quinn said, turning her head, trying to hide the fact that her face was completely red. "Can we just get back to studying; I would really love to pass this test in the morning."

* * *

><p>Quinn had just finished the last question on the test when the bell rang; the teacher walked around, accepting everyone's papers. As soon as it was in her teacher's hands, Quinn breathed a sigh of relief and found herself smiling.<p>

"How did it go?" Rachel asked, rushing up to Quinn.

Quinn wiped the smile from her face and shrugged. Rachel was always a little high strung after tests—even more so than usual—and it was always fun to torture the girl a little.

"What? Quinn!" Rachel stomped her foot and scowled.

Quinn laughed at the look on Rachel's face and grabbed her bag, leaving the room.

"Seriously, how did it go?" Rachel asked, jogging slightly to keep up with her. "Don't tell me I stayed up almost the entire night just to have you fail it!"

"Calm down," Quinn said, abruptly stopping, causing Rachel to bump into her. "I did well, I think."

"You think or you know?" Rachel asked.

"Okay, seriously—calm down," Quinn said, putting her hands on the brunette's shoulders. "There's nothing we can do about it now, so just relax; if it turns out I didn't do as well as I think, then it's not the end of the world. But like I said, I think I did well—very well—so don't worry about it, okay."

Rachel scowled a bit and huffed. "Fine."

"Thank you for all the help," Quinn said, lightly hugging Rachel. "I wouldn't have known the first thing on the test if it wasn't for you."

The scowl was wiped off Rachel's face and she smiled. "I'm always happy to help."

"Come on," Quinn said, nodding in the other direction. "Cafeteria or auditorium today."

"Cafeteria is fine," Rachel said, shrugging.

They walked to the lunchroom together and Quinn went off in search of food while Rachel sat down at their usual table. When Quinn made it to the table, almost everyone was there, including Brittany and Santana. Kurt was looking at the two Cheerios with skepticism written all over his face; she really couldn't blame him, though. The three of them had bullied each and every person at this table, so they were bound to think it was some joke and were just waiting on the punch line.

"Hey, Q, how'd you do on that test?" Santana asked as soon as she saw the blonde.

Quinn shrugged. "Hopefully better than the last time."

"I kicked that test's ass," Santana said, smirking.

Rachel scowled at Santana and then looked at Quinn. "I'm sure Quinn did quite well; we spent most of last night studying and I'm certain she knew all of the material."

"If you are so certain, why were you freaking out a few minutes ago about how I did?" Quinn asked, grinning at her.

Rachel blushed. "I was merely checking.

"Uh huh," Quinn said, laughing.

"Quinn's the smartest person I know," Brittany said, smiling at her. "I'm sure you kicked it's ass as much as Santana did."

"Thank you, Brittany," Quinn said, grinning at the other blonde.

"What about you, Berry," Santana asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I'm sure I did as well as any other test," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Which means she got an A."

Santana scoffed. "Loser."

"You're just jealous I kick every test's ass and not just this one," Rachel said, smirking.

"Okay!" Kurt said, waving his hands around. "When did this happen? How did this happen?"

Rachel frowned and looked at the frantic boy. "What?"

"When did you become friends with these people," Kurt said, motioning to the three Cheerios at the table. "Quinn was weird enough, but these two?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Santana asked, rising from her seat, leaning toward Kurt.

"That's mean you're sort of a—pardon my language—but you're a bitch that made Rachel's life hell," Kurt replied. "What's in this for you? Rachel is too nice to say anything and too naïve to think it, but you're up to something."

"Kurt!" Rachel exclaimed.

"What?" Kurt asked, turning toward her. "Everyone here knows it's true; you just want to see the best in people."

"Why is everyone yelling?" Brittany asked, looking around.

"Santana, sit down," Quinn ordered, grabbing the other girl's arm and pulling her back into her seat.

"While I appreciate your concern, Kurt, you don't need to worry about me," Rachel said. "Santana is—not exactly a friend, but she is not up to anything."

"That you know of," Kurt mumbled.

"I swear, I am going to hit you," Santana said, pointing at the boy.

"Santana, you're really not helping here," Rachel said, turning toward the Cheerio.

Santana scowled at her. "Who said anything about helping?"

"Why is she here," Kurt asked, turning to Rachel, and crossing his arms.

"Because Q is my friend and for some unexplainable reason, she's decided to be friends with the midget," Santana said angrily, but turned to wink at Rachel. "So, if Quinn wants to sit with you losers, then I guess I'll be sitting over here too."

"Can you stop calling us that?" Kurt loudly asked.

Santana scoffed. "No."

Tina, Artie, and Mercedes were watching the sparing match with rapt attention, but none of them were stupid enough to get in the middle of it. Quinn knew the three of them were probably thinking the exact same thing Kurt was saying, but were all too afraid to stand up to the most popular girls in school. She couldn't even figure out why Kurt was doing it; she knew Rachel and the boy were friendly, but they weren't exactly great friends or anything.

"Now that we have half the room staring at all of us, can you two shut up and eat?" Quinn asked, huffing.

Santana glared at Kurt one last time. "Whatever."

Quinn looked at Rachel and rolled her eyes, causing the other girl to laugh. Trying to mix their two groups was a disaster waiting to happen and they both knew it. If she could just keep Santana in check, though, hopefully there wouldn't be any bloodshed anytime soon.

* * *

><p>Quinn was quietly walking through a large cemetery at the edge of town, trying to find the source of the noise she was hearing. It actually sounded like a party; she could even hear laughter. She crept toward the middle of the graveyard when she finally found it and she looked around, frowning.<p>

"Who the hell has a party in a mausoleum," Quinn muttered to herself.

There weren't exactly any windows, so Quinn had no way of knowing who or what was inside the building and she wasn't about to go barging inside. It was clear there were a number of voices coming from within and she only had a few stakes, a cross, some holy water, and a small dagger with her.

One voice suddenly started getting louder, like it was walking toward the door, so Quinn dove behind a bush just in time. Light spilled out from the open door, across the grass, and a lone vampire came out, shutting the door behind him. Quinn watched as he started walking away and quickly looked around and listened carefully to make sure no one else was about to come out. When it didn't sound like anyone was, Quinn emerged from behind the bush and quietly ran up behind the vampire. Before he had the time to turn around, Quinn stuck the stake in his back and he exploded into dust.

Quinn ran back to the side of the mausoleum; she hoped another vampire would emerge, but she was there for several minutes and no one else ever came out. Sighing, she picked up several pebbles from the ground and walked around to the front; she lightly chucked one of the smaller stones at the door and ducked around the corner. When nothing happened, she looked back around the corner and threw a second pebble. This time, there was a slight drop in noise from inside and a few seconds later, a shaft of light appeared across the ground.

"Where are you going?" she heard a male voice ask.

"Thought I heard something," a louder, female voice replied.

She could hear the door creak shut and footsteps coming her way. She readied herself as soon as the vampire rounded the corner, she clamped her hand over the vampire's mouth. The vampire tried to yell, but it came out too muffled to be heard inside and Quinn drove the stake through the vampire's chest before she could put up a fight.

"Okay," Quinn quietly said to herself as she dusted off her clothes.

Just then, though, the door to the mausoleum opened again; Quinn quickly peaked around the corner and saw that two more vampires had come out. She sighed knowing there was no way to kill them without alerting the rest of the group.

"Where are they?" one of them asked. "You go that way; I'll check over here."

Quinn perked up; maybe there was a way. She walked around to the back of the building and waited; she could hear one of them walking around the other side, but before he could get around the corner, she jumped out and plunged the stake into his chest. He looked at her in surprise before exploding.

"Well, well," a voice came behind Quinn and she whipped around. "What do we have here? Guys!"

Quinn closed her eyes and mumbled, "Great."

Before everyone else could come out, though, Quinn lunged at the vampire and wrestled him to the group. He kneed her in the stomach on the way down, but Quinn ignored it and threw a few punches to his face.

"Slayer!" he yelled just as Quinn dusted him.

Quinn heard rustling and when she looked up, two male vampires and a female vampire in a Cheerios uniform were standing in front of her.

"No way!" the Cheerio vampire said as soon as she saw her. "Quinn Fabray?"

Quinn vaguely recognized the girl as one of the senior Cheerios from the year before. While she was looking at the other girl, though, one of the other vampires jumped on her, knocking her backwards. They struggled alone for a bit until the other male vampire jumped into the fray. One of them had her hands pinned behind her back and the other was advancing on her, but Quinn kicked the one in front of her in the stomach and hit the other in the face with the back of her head. She quickly stuck the stake in both of the vampires before either of them had a chance to recover; when she turned to where the Cheerio vampire had been standing, the girl was gone.

Quinn looked around and then walked to the front of the mausoleum and poked her head inside; it was empty except for a bunch of candles on the ground. The candles looked like they were forming a symbol and she could only assume it had to do with that Ritus Day that Rachel had mentioned. Whatever it was, though, Quinn kicked over the candles and left the room. The vampires were all dead—well, almost all dead—so she wasn't going to worry about it now.

* * *

><p>For once, Quinn made it home before it was too late; it was just a little past midnight when she walked through the front door. She walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and on her way back through the living room, she jumped. Her father was sitting on his chair, in the dark, watching her every move. Quinn ignored him, though, and started heading up the stairs, but his voice stopped her.<p>

"Where have you been?"

Quinn closed her eyes and sighed. "Out."

"Don't be smart with me," Russell said, raising his voice.

Quinn took her foot off the bottom step and turned around to face him. "Well, what do you want me to say, then? I was out."

"Who were you with?" he asked.

"No one," Quinn said, shaking her head.

He stood up from his seat and started walking toward her. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you," Quinn said, trying to sound neutral and not roll her eyes at him. "I was out and I was alone."

"I really do _not_ need this right now," her father said, pointing his finger at her face, causing her to flinch back. "The partners at Wolfram & Hart are talking about transferring me to their main branch and I don't need you embarrassing the family. You need to start acting like a Fabray; you've skipped church the last two weeks, you're out at all hours of the night, you're befriending deviants. I've worked too hard for this and I swear to God, if you don't straighten up I'll—"

"What?" Quinn asked angrily. "You're going to hit me again? Is that what it takes to be a real Fabray?"

"Do not talk back to me!" he yelled, backhanding her.

Quinn slammed into the wall but immediately turned back around to face her father. "Is hitting your daughter a Fabray thing or just hitting those that are weaker than you?" Quinn knew she should really stop, but she was so angry that she couldn't really stop the words from coming out of her mouth. "You pretend to be some great family man, but you're just a miserable person that takes his anger out on his wife and daughters."

This time, Quinn saw the punch coming, but didn't attempt to stop it; he punched her in the mouth, but she barely flinched. The impact turned her head slightly sideways and she brought her hand up to her lip. She could taste the blood and when she pulled her hand away, it was all over her fingertips.

"Feeling better now?" Quinn asked. "Feeling more like a man now that you've hit me?"

Russell's face was turning slightly red from anger, but Quinn didn't care; she had spent years being under his thumb and taking his abuse, but she finally had enough. Neither of her parents seemed to give a damn about her and she used to accept it, but she was finally at her breaking point. She wasn't going to let her father dictate her life anymore—not when she could finally defend herself against him.

This time when her father went to hit her, Quinn was ready. He tried to slap her across the face, but Quinn grabbed his arm in midair and held it there. He tried to remove his hand from her grasp, but when he failed at that, he lifted his left hand to slap her, instead. Quinn did the same with it, though, holding on to both of his wrists. He tried to pry them both free and she could see the look of panic that crossed his eyes as she held on tightly.

"No," Quinn said, staring into his eyes. "You are never going to hit me again, and if you ever try, I can't promise that I won't hit you back. It might not sound like much of a threat, but believe me—it is."

Quinn let go of his hands and he clenched his jaw, fuming. "Get out of my house."

"Gladly," Quinn said, turning around to walk up the steps.

When she was in her bedroom, she grabbed an empty Cheerios duffle bag from the top of her closet and started haphazardly throwing clothes into it. She knew what she didn't get now, she would probably never see again, so she grabbed the few pictures of her friends that were stuck in her mirror, as many clothes as she could fit in the duffle bag, and her stuffed rabbit from the bed. She stood just inside the door and looked around the room; there was so much stuff she was leaving, but she knew she wouldn't have time to get it before her father came up.

She sighed and walked out of the room with what few possessions she had grabbed. Her father was still at the bottom of the stairs where she had left him. When she walked past him, she expecting him to have some parting comment for her, but neither of them uttered a word to one another, so Quinn walked out to her car, threw her stuff in the passenger seat, and sped away.

When Quinn got to the stop sign at the end of the street, she sat there for several minutes trying to compose herself; she knew if she started crying now, she wouldn't be able to stop. She looked at the time and it was nearly one now; she knew all of her friends would be asleep, so she briefly thought about going to the training room, but decided against it. The last thing she needed was for someone to catch her sneaking around the school at night and call her parents. She thought about Santana since she was the only person that had any idea what was going on, but there was really only one person she wanted to see tonight.

It didn't take her long to get to Rachel's house; she actually sat in her car, staring at the house longer than it took her to drive there. All the lights were off and she hated to wake Rachel in the middle of the night, but she really didn't know where else to go. After sitting in the driveway for about twenty minutes, Quinn grabbed her phone and called Rachel's phone. It rang so long that she didn't think the other girl was going to answer, but eventually the phone clicked

"Hello?" Rachel mumbled sleepily.

"Hey," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry I woke you up, but—can you come downstairs and let me in?"

"What?" Rachel asked, sounding confused; Quinn heard Rachel shuffling and then saw her looking through her window. "I'll be right down."

Quinn ended the call and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat; by the time she got out of the car, Rachel had already opened the front door for her. She gratefully entered the house and Rachel looked at her in concern, but the brunette motioned for her to come upstairs instead of interrogating her right there.

As soon as Quinn was in Rachel's room, she sat the bag down on the desk and turned to ask, "Can I stay here tonight?"

Rachel nodded and then walked into the bathroom. Quinn sat down on the edge of the bed and she could hear the other girl searching the drawers and cabinets for something. When the other girl emerged, she had a washcloth and a bottle of rubbing alcohol in her hands. Quinn looked away and closed her eyes as the brunette walked over to the bed and stood in front of her.

"What happened?" Rachel asked quietly, putting the wet washcloth to Quinn's lip to get rid of the dried blood. "Why are you here at one thirty in the morning with a bloody lip and a bag of stuff?"

Quinn winced at Rachel put some of the rubbing alcohol to the cloth and stuck it to her lip. "It's my father." Quinn felt tears spring to her eyes and she quickly tried to wipe them away. "He kicked me out."

"Why would he do that?" Rachel asked, her jaw dropping in shock.

"Because I—" Quinn sighed and looked away so she wouldn't have to see the look on Rachel's face. "He's the one that did this; he's the one that did it the other night. Tonight, I decided I wasn't going to take it anymore, so I stopped him and finally said a few of the things I've been thinking for years, and then he told me to get out. I packed what I could and I left."

"How long has this been going on?" Rachel whispered.

"Since I was six," Quinn answered honestly. "It didn't happen a lot, but that was the first time it happened and it happened again a few times over the years. He was always more about the emotional abuse rather than the physical, though. The other night was the first time in about a year."

"And Santana knew?" Rachel asked.

"She saw it happen once," Quinn said, swallowing thickly. "She was staying over one night when we were twelve and he was angry about something and slapped me. Santana was about to march down the stairs and take him on herself, but I dragged her back to my room and made her swear that she would never say anything to anyone. She didn't want to keep quiet, but I threatened to tell her mother that I saw her kiss Brittany, so she cussed at me in Spanish for a while and then agreed."

"Oh, Quinn," Rachel whispered.

Quinn closed her eyes, trying to keep her tears from falling; as soon as Rachel cupped her face and kissed her forehead, though, Quinn couldn't hold it in any longer.

Rachel held her and she started sobbing into the brunette's shoulder. She didn't know how long she held her, but the other girl was rubbing circles on her back and whisperer things in her the ear the whole time. They were like that for some time until Quinn finally calmed down a bit and started sniffing.

"Better?" Rachel whispered when Quinn's tears finally started drying up.

"I'm sorry I cried all over you," Quinn said, wiping her eyes, and laughing self-consciously.

Rachel smiled sadly at her. "It's what I'm here for."

Quinn looked at the clock and let out a shaky breath. "I should really let you get to sleep."

"Do you need pajamas or—"

Quinn shook her head. "I brought some."

Rachel nodded and Quinn got up to change; she pulled off her clothes, not even caring that she was doing it in front of Rachel, and quickly changed into something she could sleep in. She was about to ask if she should sleep in the guestroom or on the couch when Rachel got into bed and pulled back the covers for her to get under.

"Come on," Rachel quietly said.

Quinn walked to the bed and laid down; Rachel threw the covers over her and turned off the lamp on the bedside table. Quinn was afraid she was going to start sobbing again and quickly wiped the tears from her face when she felt Rachel's arm wrap around her.

"You can stay here as long as you need to," Rachel whispered into her ear. "Even if that's until you go to college. Daddy probably won't even notice, and if he does, I doubt he will care. This can be your home, now."

Quinn closed her eyes as she nodded at Rachel's words.

"Goodnight, Quinn," Rachel whispered, giving her arm a gentle squeeze.

* * *

><p>"How did you do?" Rachel whispered, trying to look at Quinn's test.<p>

Quinn snuck the test under her notebook so Rachel couldn't see and smiled. "I did okay."

The bell rang above them and everyone's chairs were scraping as the teacher said, "Alright everyone, have a good weekend and I will see you Monday."

Quinn quickly grabbed her things and started walking out the room; she could hear Rachel huff behind her and knew she would be running to catch up with her. Sure enough, several seconds later, Rachel's hurried footsteps could be heard running to catch up to her and Quinn smirked at knowing the other girl so well.

"Why won't you tell me what you got?" Rachel asked.

"I told you that I did okay," Quinn said, wiping the smirk off her face before Rachel saw it.

"Yes, but 'okay' can mean a lot of things," Rachel replied.

"Do you always have to know everything?" Quinn asked as she reached her locker and starting putting in the combination.

"Well, considering I did help you prepare for the test, I feel like I have a right to know how you did," Rachel said, crossing her arms and causing Quinn to laugh. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Quinn said, grinning as she shoved her notebook in her locker and pulled out hers and Rachel's lunch.

She had stayed at the Berry house for two nights; on the second night, she had moved into the guestroom since she didn't want to crowd Rachel and given her feelings for the brunette, it probably wasn't the best idea to be staying in the same room with her anyway. Rachel had told her father the night before that Quinn would be staying with them for a while; he nodded and didn't say anything, so they both took it as meaning that he didn't have a problem with it.

Quinn was just happy that Rachel was the one she went to. She loved her other two friends, but she couldn't imagine living with either of them. Brittany's parents were a little out there and Santana—well, that would mean living with Santana; it would be hard putting up with that much attitude all day. Plus, Santana's parents were a little more perceptive than Rachel's dad was at the moment, so it would be harder to sneak in and out to fight evil.

"Can we eat in the auditorium today?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded. "Of course."

Quinn shut her locker and the two of them headed toward the auditorium; for the past two days Quinn hadn't wanted to be around a lot of people. Her lip wasn't nearly as noticeable now, so she doubted anyone would really ask about it, but she still didn't want to be around that many people right now. The cafeteria was loud and crowded and she just wanted to eat lunch with Rachel and not have to worry about making small talk with other people. Contrary to popular belief, Rachel didn't feel the need to fill every moment they were together with conversation. It was one of the many things she appreciated about the other girl; they could sit there in silence without it being awkward.

"I got a ninety-seven percent, by the way," Quinn finally said, smirking.

"Quinn, that's wond—"

"I thought you losers would be in here."

Quinn rolled her eyes and didn't even bother looking back as she walked to the front row to sit down.

"Hello, Santana," Rachel greeted, turning around to look at her.

"Skipping out on us again?" Santana asked, coming up to Quinn. "You really could give us a warning next time; Britts and I sat there for twenty minutes yesterday having to make conversation with the geek squad before we realized your ass wasn't coming."

"Poor you," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at her friend.

"So, why are you hiding in here?" Santana asked, jumping up on the edge of the stage.

"I'm not hiding," Quinn replied.

Santana hummed and started picking at her Cheerios skirt. "So, I went by your house last night."

Quinn's head whipped up. "What?"

"I'm going to assume you're living with Berry now," Santana said and Quinn nodded in confirmation. "I figured since he pretty much said you were no longer his daughter."

"Why did you go there?" Quinn asked.

Santana shrugged. "You might hide at lunch, but we do have three classes together and I do have eyes."

"I'm not hiding," Quinn said, huffing.

"I told you what I was going to do the next time I saw him and, hypothetically, I might have punched the bastard in the face," Santana said, shrugging.

"Santana!" Rachel said, half admonishing, but also half impressed.

"What?" Santana asked, smirking. "No one messes with my best friend and gets away with it."

Rachel laughed and put her hand up; Santana looked at it for a moment, rolled her eyes, and then high-fived Rachel.

"That better not be our victory cheer because high-fiving is so lame," Santana said, shaking her head. "And while we're on the subject, what do we call ourselves?"

Quinn frowned. "What?"

"Well, you're the Slayer—what are we?" Santana asked, pointing to her and Rachel.

Rachel smiled. "How about—"

"No," Santana interrupted.

Rachel huffed. "But I didn't even say anything!"

"Whatever it is, I can tell you my answer is going to be no," Santana replied.

Quinn smiled as she watched her two friends argue with each other. She didn't care what they called themselves; she was she happy she had two people in her life that cared.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you to Willowfan for the Wolfram &amp; Hart idea.<strong>

**Okay, so I'm flying to London on Sunday and will be coming back on July 6****th****, which is when I would normally be posting the next chapter. I'm trying to get it written by the time I leave so I can stay on schedule, but that might not happen. At the earliest, it'll probably be a day late since I don't foresee feeling like posting after such a long flight, but it may be even longer if I don't get this damn thing written by tomorrow night.**

**Your reviews mean a lot, so please take the time to leave one. Also, I'm taking suggestions for what the group should be called; I thought of using Scoobies like Buffy does, but I'm all for hearing your ideas and using one of them instead. **


	7. Aftermath, Part 1

**ToastedMarshmellow08: 1) the bad one 2) yes 3) double spaced is fine ;)**

**Thank you for all the suggestions; I will probably go with the Slayerettes, but keep your ideas coming and I might change my mind.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 – Aftermath, Part 1<strong>

"Are you sure they're gone?" Rachel whispered.

Quinn rolled her eyes and loudly whispered, "You don't have to whisper!"

Rachel huffed. "I don't want to get in trouble."

"Relax, Streisand," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"I told you, it's Wednesday night, so they're at church." Quinn said, putting her key in the lock and opening the front door to her parents' house. "They won't be back for several hours."

"What if we get caught?" Rachel asked, looking around nervously. "What if someone calls the police on us because they see three strange girls walking around the house?"

"Caught by who?" Santana asked. "Everyone knows Quinn is their daughter and I doubt they went around shouting 'I beat up my daughter and then kicked her out' so I really doubt any of the neighbors know she isn't supposed to be here. And like Q said, it's Wednesday night; I know for a fact that her parents are always out late because they go to church and then usually go to someone else's house to talk about what good Christians they are and how everyone else is going to hell."

Quinn nodded as she opened the door. "Okay, let's make this quick."

The three walked up to Quinn's bedroom where Santana threw the boxes she was carrying down on the floor, kicking one toward Quinn. "Why am I carrying this shit for you?"

"Do you always have to use such foul words?" Rachel asked, frowning at the other girl.

Santana raised her eyebrow and smirked. "Fuck yes."

"Will you two please stop squabbling," Quinn asked, rolling her eyes at her friends. "You two are like an old, married couple sometimes."

"Eww," Santana said, scrunching her face. "Like I would ever want to be married to that."

"Ditto," Rachel said, huffing.

"Seriously, guys, focus," Quinn ordered. "Santana, take a box and start putting everything in the bookshelf in it; Rachel—can you grab my computer and take it to the car."

Rachel happily nodded while Santana narrowed her eyes but did as she was told. Quinn went to her closet and started throwing the clothes she had to leave behind into a garbage bag. They worked mostly in silence, filling up the boxes and bags, and taking them to Santana and Quinn's cars. Quinn didn't think her parents would be home anytime soon, but she didn't exactly want to test that theory by stick around longer than necessary.

Rachel eventually started singing, much to Santana's apparent annoyance. Every time Santana muttered under her breath about having to help and having to listen to Rachel, Quinn had to fight off laughter. It had been the other girl's idea in the first place and she knew she was complaining just to be complaining since Santana would never willingly help anyone and had to appear to be annoyed by it. Plus, she knew for a fact that Santana liked Rachel's singing; she had even admitted it once even though she would deny it if anyone asked.

"What's this?" Rachel asked, pulling a box from under the bed.

"Oh," Quinn blushed, "it's some diaries that I've kept over the years."

Santana dropped the book she was holding and walked over to Rachel. "Give those to me."

"Don't you dare!" Quinn yelled, lunging for the box.

"Oh, come on," Santana whined. "You're making us pack all your crap; the least you could do is supply some entertainment by letting me read your diary."

Quinn scoffed. "Yeah, over my dead body."

"I can probably arrange that," Santana said, shrugging a shoulder. "I just have to find a group of vampires and started shouting that I know who the Slayer is and I'm sure they'll take care of it."

"That isn't funny," Rachel said, glaring at the Cheerio.

"You just have to learn to not take her seriously," Quinn said, turning to Rachel. "Or threaten to tell Brittany that she was being mean and that'll make her stop."

"Like hell it will," Santana said, crossing her arms, but Quinn just laughed and made a whipping motion. "Screw you, Fabray."

"What exactly is yours and Brittany's relationship?" Rachel asked, turning to Santana.

Santana suddenly looked embarrassed and mumbled something under her breath that Quinn couldn't quite make out.

"They are 'not dating', but they have sex all the time," Quinn said, smirking, and Santana's head whipped around to glare at her friend. "Oh, don't look at me like that; Rachel isn't stupid and she isn't going to tell anyone."

"Well, then, while we're on the subject—" Santana smirked as she turned to Quinn and the blonde suddenly dreaded whatever was about to come out of the other girl's mouth. "What's going on with you and that giant that Quinn dated; I saw you two talking in the hall and you looked pretty cozy."

"Who—Finn?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, Finnept," Santana said, nodding.

"Nothing is going on," Rachel replied, shrugging. "He keeps asking me out and I keep gently turning him down, but he doesn't seem to get the hint."

"Oh, so there's someone else you're interested in?" Santana asked. "I mean, he is the quarterback; most girls would be wetting their panties if he asked them out."

"I don't know," Rachel mumbled. "I don't usually think of things like that—not with everything else going on right now. I have other things to worry about than who I want to date."

Santana hummed. "Too bad."

"Why?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"Because—"

"Okay!" Quinn said, clapping her hands together. "Let's get the rest of this stuff and get out of here!"

* * *

><p>"Well, well—look who we have here."<p>

Quinn groaned as she turned around; it was the pompous vampire that kicked her ass earlier in the month. She was really hoping she would never see him again.

"What, not happy to see me again?" he asked, smirking at her.

"Mmm, yes—thrilled," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't be like that," he said, putting his hand to his chest.

"What, am I breaking your unbeating heart?" Quinn asked.

He smirked at her. "Maybe."

"Are you here to fight more or just to annoy me again?" Quinn asked, cocking her eyebrow at the vampire. "Because, pardon me for saying it, but you're a crappy conversationalist."

He hummed. "I guess I need to work on my people skills, but usually the most they ever say is 'please, don't kill me', so it is difficult."

"Does that make me special, then?" Quinn asked. "You're talking to me, but not trying to kill me."

"I guess it does, Quinn Fabray," he replied.

Quinn closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she knew it had to be that damn Cheerio vampire that got away. Now every vampire in Lima probably knew who she was and would be coming after her. Sue was going to kill her if something else didn't get to her first.

"I guess since I know your name, I should introduce myself," he said, sticking his hand out. "Jesse St. James."

Quinn ignored his outstretched hand and crossed her arms over her chest.

"And you say that I'm a crappy conversationalist," Jesse said, smiling at her. "If you're worried about everyone knowing who you are, don't be; no one else knows you're the Slayer. My Mistress wants to be the one to kill you, so when that insipid girl came in claiming to know who the Slayer was, she killed her. Of course, she got your name first. Obviously I was there, but no one else is going to come knocking on your door."

Quinn felt a little relief at the news; she knew it was coming from a vampire, but for some reason, she believed what he was saying.

"So, why are you here if your 'Mistress' is supposed to kill me?" Quinn asked, using air quotes. "And by the way, couldn't she have picked a better title? Mistress sounds a bit porn star for some all-powerful vampire."

Jesse's eyes turned from slightly playful to steely in an instant. "Do not talk about my Mistress like that."

"Well, since you're not going to kill me, I can really talk about her any way I want," Quinn said, smirking.

Jesse clinched his jaw and lunged at her, but Quinn quickly rolled over with him and ended up straddling him. She punched him once in the jaw before her flipped her over his head, onto her back, and flipped onto his feet. Quinn scrambled to get up as well and dodged a kick that was meant for her side.

"Wow, you get sloppy when you get angry," Quinn said, laughing.

The vampire spun, kicking her in the side and Quinn hit the ground. He kicked her once more when she was down, getting her in the ribs. Quinn groaned at the impact and grabbed his foot, pulling him down on the ground next to her. She rolled on top of him and punched him in the nose before he kicked her off.

"Seriously?" he said, clutching his face. "Did you really have to go for the nose? That was simply uncalled for."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "You're a vampire; who the hell are you trying to impress."

"You know what?" Jesse said, glaring at her. "I think it's time to inform my Mistress that you're ready for her. I might even take you there myself tonight."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"And who is going to stop me?" he asked.

"Me," Quinn replied, kneeing him in the groin.

He doubled over and Quinn lunged for her bag; in the midst of fighting with the vampire, she had lost her stake. She grabbed a new one from the bag as well as a bottle of holy water. When she turned around, the vampire was already straightening back up and heading toward her, so Quinn threw the bottle at his face, where it broke upon impact. He yelled in pain as he grabbed at his face, trying to get the liquid off; his skin was smoking and Quinn couldn't help but cringe at the sight. It was the first time she had used holy water on a vampire and she was happy to see it actually worked.

"I don't think your Mistress will be hearing from you tonight," Quinn said before plunging the stake into his chest.

He flinched when the stake went in and exploded into dust a few seconds later. What remained of him was still smoldering from the holy water as Quinn looked down at the ground.

Quinn smiled to herself and walked back to her bag, picking up her other stake along the way when she spotted on the ground; she tossed both into the bag and threw the bag over her shoulder, heading home for the night.

* * *

><p>Quinn and Rachel walked into the training room in the morning and Sue was waiting on them, arms crossed, tapping her fingers on her bicep.<p>

"You're late," she said, staring at them.

"Sorry, Rachel took forever to get ready this morning," Quinn said, smirking.

"I did not!" Rachel shrieked. "I didn't—Quinn turned my alarm off."

"Well, if you didn't let it go off for several minutes, I wouldn't have turned it off," Quinn replied.

"It was not several minutes," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips, and glaring at the blonde. "You should have woke me up; if you had, we wouldn't be late and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. And I don't even know how you heard it from across the hall; my door was barely cracked."

"Will you two shut it," Sue said, throwing her hands up. "Give me your report for last night."

Quinn mock saluted and then smiled, causing Sue to roll her eyes. "I killed two vampire; the first was male and looked like he came from the 70s—the man seriously needed to learn how to blend in a little better—and the second one was a vampire by the name of Jesse St. James."

Rachel frowned. "He introduced himself to you?"

"He did, actually," Quinn said, laughing lightly. "Do you remember that vampire a few weeks ago that kicked my ass; the one where we thought he might have broken my ribs? It was him."

"The one that was talking about his Mistress?" Rachel asked.

"That's the one," Quinn said, turning back to Sue. "We had a verbal sparring match and when I insulted his porn star leader, he got mad and got sloppy."

"So he's dust?" Sue asked.

"Completely," Quinn said, smiling.

"He didn't hurt you again, did he?" Rachel asked, looking at her in concern.

"He kicked me in the ribs again, so they are a little sore, but I'm okay," Quinn replied. "He definitely got the worse end of the deal this time."

"Well, let's hope his Mistress doesn't miss him too much," Rachel said, smiling.

"Yes," Sue said, turning to write in her journal that she kept on Quinn's reports. "I want you to patrol again tonight and tomorrow night; if he was important, his Mistress might look for some payback, so I want you to be prepared. Chances are he was no one, but better safe than sorry."

"Shouldn't she stay _in_ if vampires are looking for her?" Rachel asked.

"Not at the expense of someone else," Quinn replied. "They might be out there looking for me, but they're going to kill anyone else they find; if they're out there, I need to slay them before that happens."

"Precisely," Sue said, tapping the pen to her notebook.

"About tomorrow night, though," Quinn said, turning to her Watcher. "The Halloween dance is tomorrow and I was sort of hoping I could go to it."

"Absolutely not," Sue immediately replied.

"But I'll go patrolling after!" Quinn quickly promised. "I just need one night of doing normal teenage things. Every night I'm either patrolling or studying or training and I never get to do anything else. I know I'm the Slayer and I have certain responsibilities, but I still need a few hours to be a normal teenager every now and then."

Sue sighed and looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Please?" Quinn said, giving the most pathetic look she could muster. "Just for a few hours and then I'll go patrolling. And if things are really bad tonight, I'll skip the dance tomorrow."

"Fine," Sue gritted out.

Rachel squealed and nearly jumped on Quinn in delight.

"Stop that or I'll change my mind," Sue said, sneering at them. "Now get out of my sight."

Rachel smiled at Quinn and tugged her out of the room. "I can't believe she said yes."

"Me either," Quinn agreed. "Maybe she's getting soft in her old age?"

Rachel laughed. "Don't let her hear you say that or she'll never let you do anything for the rest of your life. Hey, can I go patrolling with you tonight?"

"No," Quinn replied.

"You didn't even think about it," Rachel said, scowling.

"I don't have to think about it," Quinn stated. "My answer would be the same—no."

"But—"

"No, no buts," Quinn replied. "There might be extra vampires out there looking for me and you're not going to be in the crossfire if there are. I'll be okay, though, so don't start worrying."

"Why didn't you wake me up last night when you got home?" Rachel asked. "I left my door open so I would hear you when you came in, but I guess I was sound asleep. You should have woke me told me you got the vampire, though."

Quinn shrugged. "I didn't think it was that important."

"Of course it's important," Rachel said, stopping in the middle of the hall. "I've been worried about what would happen if you ever came face to face with him again and then you make me wait until this morning to even tell me."

"I'm sorry," Quinn said, frowning. "I didn't know you were worried about it."

Rachel huffed. "Of course I was worried about it; I worry every night that I'm never going to see you again."

"Rach." Quinn tilted her head to the side and smiled sadly.

"Just—can you wake me up when you come home from now on?" Rachel asked. "I don't care how late it is; I want to know you're okay."

Quinn nodded. "I can do that."

"Good," Rachel said, staring at her. "So—what are you going as for the Halloween dance?"

Quinn laughed and continued walking down the hall. "You'll just have to be patient."

"Come on," Rachel whined.

"It's tomorrow night, you'll see then," Quinn said, grinning.

Rachel frowned. "But I don't want to wait."

* * *

><p>"You look super cool!" Brittany said, coming up to Quinn.<p>

"Thanks," Quinn said, smiling at her friend, who appeared to be dressed as a unicorn. "Where's Santana."

"Over with Puck," Brittany said, frowning, and adjusting the horn on her head.

"Why is she over there?" Quinn asked, rubbing the other girl's arm.

"I asked her to dance and she said she couldn't and then she ran over to him," Brittany said, turning around to look at the girl in question.

Quinn sighed and also turned to look at Santana, who was dressed as a vampire; Quinn couldn't help but roll her eyes at the other girl's costume choice. "I'm sorry, Brittany."

"It's just a dance," Brittany said sadly. "It's not like I was asking her to tell everyone about us. I don't understand why she's always so scared."

"She'll come around," Quinn said, watching her friend across the room, and hoping that she wasn't lying to Brittany by saying it.

"Where's Rachel?" Brittany asked, turning back to look at her.

"She had some dance class thing," Quinn said, waving at Tina as she passed by with Artie. "She's going to come as soon as it's over, which should be any time now."

"Maybe Rachel will dance with me," Brittany said before wistfully turning back to Santana.

"Oh, there she is," Quinn said, pointing toward the door, where Rachel had just entered.

"What is she?" Brittany asked, looking confused.

"I think she's an Angel," Quinn said, titling her head to the side.

"Shouldn't she have wings and one of those round things over her head?" Brittany asked.

"One of Charlie's Angels," Quinn amended.

"Oh, from that movie," Brittany said, brightening.

Quinn chuckled. "Yeah."

"I love those movies," Brittany said, smiling.

Rachel started laughing the moment she saw Quinn and the blonde grinned. "Xena, huh?" Rachel looked her up and down. "I guess you do sort of have a hero complex."

"Hey!" Quinn said, playfully slapping Rachel's arm. "Nice Farrah hair, by the way."

"So you get the costume!" Rachel said excitedly. "I was worried no one would understand it."

"Hey, Rach, will you dance with me?" Brittany eagerly asked, smiling at the brunette.

She glanced at Quinn and then looked back to the other girl who was offering Rachel her hand. "Sure, Brittany. I'll be right back, Quinn."

Quinn nodded and smiled as watched the two of them walking away.

"Hey."

Quinn turned and smiled at Tina, who was shyly looking at her. "Hey, Tina."

"I l-love your costume," Tina said, smiling back. "I always loved that show when I was a kid. I even dressed up as her once when I was seven, but some people made fun of me for it."

"Why would anyone make fun of a seven year old?" Quinn asked, frowning.

"Santana said only lesbians watch that show," Tina replied.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Of course it was her."

"It's okay," Tina said, shrugging.

"Hey, guys," Artie said, rolling up to them. "What's up?"

"Just talking," Tina said, smiling at him.

"I was wondering if you would like to dance," Artie said, looking up at Tina.

Tina's smile grew wider. "I would love to."

Quinn watched as the two of them went toward the other dancing couples and sighed to herself. As soon as Brittany and Rachel started dancing together, she noticed Santana was watching them with a scowl on her face. It looked like Puck was trying to get her attention, but she was completely ignoring him. The brunette was watching them the whole time and when the song finally ended, Santana marched up to Brittany and dragged her away from Rachel. The brunette turned to look at Quinn and they simultaneously shrugged at each other.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked as she walked up to Quinn.

"Who knows," Quinn lied. "Care to dance with me since your other dance partner is gone."

"Sure," Rachel said, reaching for Quinn's hand.

They walked onto the floor just as No Air start playing; Quinn stopped at the edge of the dance floor and pulled Rachel into her arms.

"Mr. Schuester has been having Finn and I sing this song," Rachel said, looking at Quinn.

"How's that going?" Quinn quietly asked.

Rachel sighed. "It would go better if we had more members and had a better male lead; Finn is okay, but he really can't dance and his vocals could use some work. Our first competition is in December, but we still only have half the members we need to compete."

"I think Brittany would join if you asked her," Quinn said, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind Rachel's ear. "And if Brittany joins, Santana will follow."

"I don't know how well that would work out," Rachel said, laughing. "I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been any physical violence at the lunch table, but I don't know if the rest of the guys in the club could handle Santana for an extra hour several times a week. And, being Cheerios, I know they can dance, but can either of them sing?"

"Santana can," Quinn replied. "Really well, actually. Brittany isn't terrible, but she's definitely more of a dancer than a singer."

"What about you?" Rachel asked, smiling at her.

"What about me?" Quinn asked.

"Can you sing?" Rachel asked, her smile widened.

Quinn laughed. "Oh no—I have enough going on in my life."

"Fine!" Santana shouted from across the room, causing everyone, including Rachel and Quinn, to look her way.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked, watching Santana storm away from Brittany. "Should you go after her?"

"Go after an angry Santana—are you insane?" Quinn said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well, we should at least see if Brittany's okay," Rachel said, pulling away from Quinn, grabbing her hand, and tugging her toward the blonde.

* * *

><p>Santana walked out of the gymnasium and down the hall, toward the Cheerios locker room; she just wanted to be alone and knew no one would be in there right now. She hated this. She hated fighting with Brittany, but it seemed to be happening more and more lately. The other girl was tired of being a secret, but Santana was terrified of people finding out. Quinn knew and Berry knew, but she trusted both of them enough not to say anything. She was afraid of what would happen if her parents found out, but mostly she was afraid of what would happen at school. Right now, she was on the top of the food chain, but what would happen if everyone in the school found out her biggest secret? She tried to act like a tough bitch all the time, but the truth was she couldn't handle everyone talking about her behind her back. She knew this couldn't last much longer, though; she was going to have to choose—Brittany or her popularity. She loved the blonde more than anything in the world and the thought of losing her terrified her just as much as the truth coming out.<p>

She wiped at her eyes as she opened the door to the locker room; she thought about turning off the light so she could sit in the dark, but decided it would take too much effort. So, she walked over to one of the benches and sat down, sniffing. She was glad no one else was around; she felt like such a pansy right now, crying over some girl—but it wasn't just some girl. This was Brittany, the girl she had been in love with since before she was even a teenager. She didn't know it at the time, but she was pretty sure she fell in love with her friend the moment she saw her, but her feelings had terrified her at the time, so she blocked them out. Now, years later, she was still terrified and probably going to lose her because of it, but she didn't know how to stop being so scared.

Her first instinct was always to deny and run, which is why she told Brittany she couldn't dance with her and immediately ran to Puck since the boy was too stupid to realize what was going on. The look on Brittany's face, though, was enough to break her heart. When she saw Brittany with Berry on the dance floor, looking so carefree and happy, something inside her snapped. When the song was over, she had dragged the blonde off the floor and accused her of cheating. She knew she was being the world's biggest hypocrite—she had slept with numerous guys in an effort to ignore her feelings for the blonde.

Santana heard a noise and her head snapped up; she quickly wiped at her eyes and put a scowl on her face. She looked around, ready to cuss at anyone stupid enough to bother her, but she didn't see anyone around. Sighing, she put her head in her hands and closed her eyes, trying to block out the thoughts racing through her mind.

She wanted to go back to the gym and give Brittany what she wanted, but she didn't know if she could. She knew it was just a dance to everyone else, but it was so much more than that to her. No one would probably think anything of it—they were friends and no one seemed to care if Brittany was dancing with Berry—but what if someone did think something? All it would take would be for one person to figure it out and then it would all be over. Everyone would know—her parents would know.

"What are you doing in here?" Santana head snapped up again at the sound of the woman's voice. "Shouldn't you be at the dance with everyone else?"

Santana glared at the woman; she had long, dark hair and looked too old to be a student, but she didn't recognize her as one of the teachers. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman smiled at her. "Well, aren't you blunt?"

"Yeah—no offense, but I would like to be left alone right now," Santana said, getting a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach as the woman looked at her.

"And I would like a lot of things," the woman replied after a moment.

Santana felt like the woman was studying her and she didn't know why, but the woman was seriously creeping her out, though she would never admit that out loud.

Santana frowned as the woman continued staring at her. "Do I know you?"

She realized the woman looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Whoever she was, though, she wished she would just go away and leave her to her misery.

"No," she replied, walking further into the room and Santana felt the urge to scoot away from her.

"Look, can you just leave me alone," Santana said, discretely wiping at her eyes in case there was any evidence that she had been crying.

"Sure, but I was wondering if you could give a message to someone and then I promise to be on my way," the woman replied.

Santana rolled her eyes. "What message?"

"I want you to tell your friend, Quinn, something for me," the woman answered.

* * *

><p>"Do you think she'll notice we left?" Rachel asked, looking back.<p>

Quinn shrugged. "We couldn't exactly tell her where we were going and when her and Santana are fighting, she always wants to hang out, which would make it hard to go to the graveyard. She isn't the brightest person alive, but I do think she would realize something was up when she sees a person explode into dust in front of her."

"I just hate to leave her alone," Rachel said, pouting.

"Me too, but I promised Sylvester," Quinn said, sighing. "I just need to change and then we can go."

Rachel's pout turned into a grin. "Why change? You should go patrolling like that."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because that wouldn't be completely ridiculous."

"I don't know, I think it would be kind of cool," Rachel said, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah," Quinn said, shaking her head. "You just want to see me make a fool of myself."

Rachel smiled. "Can you do that call thing she does? That would make it even better. Seriously, it could work; I'm sure all the vampires would be so confused that they wouldn't know what to do and you could kill them without a fight."

"I am not going to the cemetery dressed like Xena!" Quinn said, huffing.

"Fine, but—"

Rachel's foot slid out from under her and she slammed into the floor, landing face first, her hands breaking her fall.

"Oh my god!" Quinn said, kneeling down next to her.

"I'm okay," Rachel said, wincing at the pain in her wrists.

When she looked down to see what she slid on, her eyes widened. She sat back and lifted her hands to look at them; they were partially covered in blood.

"Quinn," she shakily said, staring straight ahead.

Quinn's eyes were wide as she looked around the floor. "Where did this come from?"

Rachel swallowed thickly as she stood her; her legs were shaking so badly that she thought she was going to fall down again. She knew Quinn hadn't noticed, but she couldn't take her eyes off of it.

"Quinn," she said again.

"What?" Quinn asked, turning to look at her.

Rachel didn't say anything, but hesitantly walked forward. She didn't want to—everything inside her was screaming to not go forward—but she couldn't seem to stop herself. When she walked far enough to see around the corner of the locker, her legs finally gave out. Quinn rushed over to her, but stopped a few feet away, finally seeing what Rachel had seen.

"No!" Quinn cried out.

Quinn ran over to Santana's body and immediately checked for a pulse, but Rachel just closed her eyes. She knew she was gone; she was too pale to be alive. She could hear Quinn crying, but the blood was rushing so loudly in her ears that she could barely hear it. She felt like she was going to pass out—or maybe throw up.

When Rachel finally looked up again, Quinn was kneeling over Santana's body; she could tell the other girl was shaking and she wanted to wrap her in her arms, but she still couldn't seem to move. Tears were streaming down her own face and she reached up to wipe them off, but saw the blood all over her hands. She dropped them limply by her side and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She knew she needed to be strong for Quinn, but right now she felt like she was going to lose it at any moment.

"What's going on?"

Brittany's voice was quiet but it echoed through Rachel's head. The blonde was standing just inside the door, looking around the floor with wide eyes. When she started walking toward them, Rachel finally jumped up; she couldn't let Brittany see.

"Wait!" she said, putting her hands up.

Brittany looked at her hands in horror. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, I—" Rachel's hands dropped to her side.

"What's going on?" Brittany asked again, searching Rachel's face.

For the first time in her life, Rachel was at a loss for words; she always prided herself on her extensive vocabulary, but in the moment, words completely failed her.

Brittany tried walking around Rachel, but the brunette stepped in her way and whispered, "Don't go over there."

"You're scaring me," Brittany said, trying to step around her again, but Rachel stepped to the side to block her path.

"Come on," Rachel said, grabbing the blonde's arm. "We need to get out of here."

"No," Brittany said, pulling her arm away.

"Please," Rachel pleaded, trying to stop the other girl, but Brittany was a lot bigger and stronger than her. "Quinn, stop her."

Quinn looked up at Rachel's words and jumped up to stop Brittany, but it was too late. The other girl's eyes widened and she tried to go to Santana, but Quinn held onto her. When Brittany realized she wasn't going to be able to fight Quinn, she started sobbing into her shoulder while Rachel and Quinn looked helplessly at each other.

Rachel didn't say anything as she walked away; she knew Brittany and Quinn needed each other right now and neither would miss her. She numbly walked down the wall and knocked on the door to Sue's office. She didn't know if the woman would be there, but she was hoping she would be.

"This better be important," the woman called out.

Rachel opened the door, keeping her eyes on the floor. "You need to clear out the training room."

"Excuse me?" Sue asked, removing her glasses.

"We need to hide everything in the training room so the police don't ask questions," Rachel stated.

"Police?" Sue asked, frowning in confusion.

"Santana is dead." Rachel finally looked up and couldn't stop the tears from falling. "Her body is in the locker room."

* * *

><p>When Quinn pulled into the driveway, the three of them sat in complete silence; none of them had spoken a word to each other for hours. The police had come and questioned each of them; the last thing Quinn and Rachel said to each other was when they agreed to tell the police they knew nothing. It was a complete lie—neither of them had any idea who or what did it, but they both had an idea why it happened. They didn't have to tell Brittany to play ignorant since the girl really had no idea what was going on.<p>

Rachel was the first one to finally step out of the car, where she waited for the other two to join her. Brittany got out second and stood close to Rachel; the blonde hadn't stopped crying and didn't want to be more than a few feet from her friends. After another minute, Quinn took a deep breath and got out of the car. Rachel took Brittany's hand and led her to the front door. She tried unlocking it, but it took her several times to finally get the key in since her hands were still shaking so badly.

Once the door was finally opened, Rachel stood aside to let the other two in; Quinn trudged up the stairs, but Brittany stopped and looked at Rachel. The brunette hadn't even asked the other girl if she wanted to go home—after losing the most important person in her life, she knew the girl needed to be around her friends right now.

"Come on," Rachel said, taking Brittany's hand again, and leading her up the stairs, and into her room. "Stay here; I'll be right back."

Rachel walked across the hall and knocked on Quinn's door, which was slightly ajar. The blonde didn't answer, but Rachel slowly opened the door to find Quinn sitting on the bed with her head in her hands.

"Do you have something Brittany can wear?" Rachel asked. "I would give her something of mine, but I think your clothes would fit her better."

Quinn looked up and then slowly nodded; she walked over to the dressed and pulled out some pajama pants and a t-shirt and handed them to Rachel. The other girl wasn't looking at her, so Rachel reached out and squeezed her hand. It took her a moment, but Quinn finally squeezed back.

Rachel had barely known Santana; they were getting along a little better than a few months ago, but they weren't friends. She knew what it was like to lose someone you love, though, so she knew what Brittany and Quinn were going through right now. That didn't mean she knew what to do to make it any better, though, because she knew there was nothing that could be done to make their pain any less. Not right now, anyway.

Rachel let go of Quinn's hand and walked back across the hall to find Brittany exactly where she had left her. "Here."

Brittany reached out and took the clothes from Rachel's hands and quietly said, "Thanks."

"I thought you might be more comfortable in those than your Halloween costume," Rachel said and then pointed to the bathroom door. "You can change in there if you want."

"Okay." Brittany nodded and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

As soon as the door closed, Rachel looked up at her ceiling and took a deep breath before slowly releasing it. She took another few seconds to compose herself again and then walked back over to Quinn's room; this time, the girl standing at the window.

"Hey," Rachel whispered.

Quinn looked over her shoulder and acknowledged her with a slight quirk of her lips.

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to spend the night in my room," Rachel said after Quinn turned her head back around to stare out the window again. "I doubt Brittany wants to be alone tonight and I figure you don't want to be either. If you want, you two can stay in here, but I just thought—maybe we could all sleep in my bed."

Rachel didn't know if Quinn was going to answer her, but she eventually nodded, so Rachel left the room. When she walked back into her room, Brittany was still in the bathroom; she walked over to the door and could hear the blonde sniffling.

"Brittany," Rachel quietly said as she gently knocked on the door.

The door opened and Brittany walked out; her eyes were even more red and puffy than before. Rachel didn't say anything, but pulled the other girl into a tight hug. She felt Brittany's arms wrap around her without hesitation.

"I'm sorry," Brittany mumbled.

Rachel pulled back slightly. "What are you sorry for?"

"I just can't stop crying," Brittany said, sniffing.

"Don't apologize for that," Rachel said, shaking her head. "You're allowed to cry as much as you need to."

"I know but San always says—" The blonde seemed to realize what she was saying and clamped her mouth shut.

"It's okay," Rachel said, removing a strand of hair that was stuck to Brittany's tear stained cheek. "Do you want to go to bed?"

Brittany nodded. "What about Quinn? She shouldn't be alone tonight."

"She's going to sleep in here with us," Rachel said, rubbing her hands over Brittany's arms.

A few moments later, Quinn walked into the room in her pajamas. Quinn and Brittany looked at each other for a moment and then Quinn looked away to stare at the wall. Rachel had no idea what was going on in her friend's mind, but a million different emotions seemed to be playing across her face.

When it was clear that neither of the blondes were going to move, Rachel sighed and grabbed Brittany's hand, leading her over to the bed. Brittany got in the middle and Rachel walked around to the far side; once they were both in, Quinn finally turned around and got in on the other side of Brittany. Rachel turned off the lamp next to the bed and then turned so she was facing Brittany; she draped her arm across the blonde's waist and felt Quinn do the same on the other side.

* * *

><p>Rachel watched as Quinn picked at the food on her tray; the cafeteria was much more subdued today than usual, especially at their table. It was clear than none of Rachel's friends knew what to say to Quinn or Brittany, so they had remained silent. They kept shooting both of them glances, though, and Rachel wanted to smack them all and tell them to quit staring. Tina was the only one not looking at them every few seconds; instead, she would looked at Rachel and roll her eyes at their friends' behavior.<p>

She felt like she had been walking on eggshells all weekend. Brittany had left Saturday morning when her mom called and asked that she come home; Brittany tried to tell her she wanted to be there with Quinn, but she finally relented and went home for a few hours and then came back. At least she had gotten a little bit of her personality back; she still looked like she was on the verge of tears almost every moment, but she was speaking. Quinn, however, was still barely saying a word; she would usually respond to direct questions with a yes or no answer, but that was it. She tried to get the two blondes to stay home today, but Quinn had insisted on going to school and Brittany wasn't willing to be there without her.

Rachel jumped when Quinn threw her fork down onto the tray and then watched as she walked out of the cafeteria. The brunette sighed and caught Brittany's eye.

"I've never seen Quinn this sad before," Brittany said, staring at the table.

Rachel reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm going to go see how she's doing, okay?"

Brittany nodded and Rachel stood up from the table; on her way past Tina, she paused, and leaned down to whisper, "Make sure no one bothers Brittany and that she gets to class."

"I will," Tina whispered back.

Rachel hurried out of the cafeteria and immediately went to the auditorium; she was relieved to see that the blonde was there since it meant she wasn't hiding from her. If she didn't want her around, she knew she would have gone someone else since this was the first place she would look. Quinn looked up when she walked in, but then went back to pacing around the stage. When Rachel finally got onto the stage with her, the blonde stopped with her back toward her.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked. "I mean—I know you're not okay, but you left the cafeteria rather quickly, so—are you okay?"

Rachel had been finding it difficult to figure out what to say to her friend; everything she said sounded stupid once it was out of her mouth.

Quinn shrugged, but didn't respond further, so Rachel sighed and walked around so she could see the other girl's face. "What's going through your mind right now?"

Quinn frowned for a moment, but then looked up at Rachel. "I couldn't stand being in there with everyone looking at me. It's like they all know it's my fault."

"Wait—what?" Rachel asked, scrunching her eyebrows together in complete confusion.

"It's my fault," Quinn said again. "If I had just gone after her, she wouldn't have been alone, and none of this would have happened. You even asked if I wanted to go after her, but I said no and now she's dead." Quinn closed her eyes and hung her head a bit. "My best friend is dead because I'm the Slayer."

"Okay, first of all, you don't know that," Rachel said, stepping toward the blonde and putting her hands on her upper arms, making the other girl look at her. "People die here all the time and it has nothing to do with knowing you. Second, it's _not_ your fault; you couldn't have known any of this was going to happen. It's okay to be sad and it's okay to be angry, but you have no reason to feel guilty about this."

Quinn shook her head. "Last week a vampire got away; she used to be a Cheerio and she knew me. That vampire I killed the other night knew my name because she told him and then they went after Santana because she told them she was my best friend, so they went after the person they thought meant the most to me. What if they come after Brittany next—or you? What if knowing me is a death sentence for everyone that means anything to me? I can't lose you; not now—not after I finally—"

Quinn tried to turn away, but Rachel held onto her and asked, "You finally what?"

"Not after I finally figured out what I feel for you," Quinn said with tears in her eyes; she quickly wiped them away, though, and sniffed.

Inside, Rachel's mind was racing, but she tried to remain passive on the outside. Was Quinn really saying to her what she thought she was saying?

Rachel took a deep breath and gently asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean—" Quinn closed her eyes for a moment and opened them up, staring directly into Rachel's eyes. "What happens when everyone figures out that you mean everything to me—that I care about you way more than I should?"

"Quinn—"

"I like you," Quinn admitted. "As more than a friend—Santana made me realize it, actually. If anyone finds out what you mean to me, you will be a target for everything that wants to get to me."

"Quinn," Rachel said, putting her hands on the other girl's cheeks. "Please, stop worrying about me. Nothing is going to happen to me; I'm right here, I'm fine, and I'm going to remain that way."

"But what if—"

"No," Rachel interrupted. "Nothing bad is going to happen to me."

"You can't know that!" Quinn said loudly. "I can't lose you!"

Before Rachel could even think about what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck and crashed their lips together. She heard the blonde squeak in surprise, but she started kissing her back nevertheless. Rachel quickly pulled away, though, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry," Rachel apologized.

"Don't be," Quinn replied, smiling sadly.

Rachel shook her head again. "That was highly inappropriate for me to do."

"It's okay," Quinn quietly said, running her thumb along Rachel's jaw line.

The bell rung above them and both girls jumped slightly; Quinn sighed and put her forehead against Rachel's.

"We should get to class," Rachel said.

Quinn nodded. "I'll see you tonight."

Rachel nodded and Quinn pulled away, turned around, and walked toward the exit. The brunette stood there for a moment, watching the blonde until she was gone, and then rolled her eyes at herself. That was _not_ how she planned on kissing Quinn again. The first time had been out of her control and now the second kiss was the worst timing ever. Maybe the next time would go better—if there was a next time.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked through the cemetery; it was the third one she had been to tonight and she still hadn't seen a single vampire. It was actually sort of pissing her off; she wanted to fight something, but the forces of evil were not cooperating with her right now. Actually, she felt like she <em>needed<em> to fight something right now. She was going crazy just doing nothing when her best friend had been killed my some vampire. She didn't know which vampire it was, but it didn't matter—she was going to kill every one she saw and hope that one day she slayed the one that did it.

She still blamed herself; Rachel had told her it wasn't her fault, but she knew it was. If she had just killed the vampire the other night or had followed Santana or any number of things, the girl would still be alive. She tried not to think about it, though; whenever she did, the guilt she felt made her stomach churn and she always thought she was going to throw up. In fact, she had thrown up numerous times over the weekend anytime she thought about it.

Every time she walked past anyone at school they would either give her a look of sympathy or pity. The kids at school were used to death, but not the death of someone everyone knew the name of. Because everyone knew Santana—for better or worse, people knew her name. Word quickly spread about how she was found in the locker room with blood on the floor; Quinn didn't know how they knew, but every person in that school seemed to know within an hour of it happening. Several people had sent her messages asking if it was true; Quinn ignored them rather than responding how she wanted to.

There was currently a memorial going on at school, but Quinn skipped it to go patrolling. Tomorrow was the funeral and the thought of having to go to it was enough to make her sick all over again. She had to go, though; she would go for Brittany if for no other reason. The blonde was in even more pain than she was; her eyes were usually so full of life and happiness, but it was like something inside her died. Brittany had completely lost the light in her eyes and Quinn feared she may never get it back. She didn't know what to do, though; Brittany had lost the one person in her life that she had ever been in love with and there was nothing that could ever make that hurt less. She knew the pain would ease somewhat over time, but it would always be there.

"Q."

Quinn didn't even jump when Sylvester suddenly addressed her; maybe she was still too numb to feel any sort of fear, but she simply turned around and looked at her Watcher.

"You skipped practice today," Sue stated.

Quinn scoffed. "How can you think of that at a time like this?"

"Santana was dedicated to the Cheerios," Sue replied. "I'm sure she would have expected nothing less; it would dishonor her memory to cancel practice now. She would want us to win that national championship and we're going to—for her."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I think she would have been fine with cancelling practice for one damn day."

"First, I'm still your coach and your Watcher, so you will not yell at me," Sue said quietly. "Second, you cannot skip practice without telling me."

"I don't care!" Quinn yelled and her voice echoed through the cemetery.

Sue stared. "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't!" Quinn turned around and felt like kicking the headstone in front of her. "I don't care about anything anymore."

"If you didn't care about anything, you wouldn't be this upset," Sue said. "You cared about Santana and now you've lost her. We all cared about her. She was stubborn and brazen and I wanted to hit her on more than one occasion, but that's who she was. You might not always understand my methods, but you girls are like my family; I'm tough on you because I care." Sue turned around and started walking away. "I expect you to be at practice in the morning."

"I quit," Quinn said, causing her coach to stop.

"Excuse me?" she asked, turning around.

"I quit," Quinn repeated. "I can't do everything anymore, so I quit the Cheerios."

Much to Quinn's surprise, Sue nodded and said, "There will always be a spot for you when you decide to come back."

She watched as the older woman turned back around and continued on her way; she took a deep breath and looked around. She hadn't actually planned on quitting the squad, but she also couldn't imagine being there without Santana. When she words came out of her mouth, she was really expecting a fight from her coach, but maybe she understood more than Quinn thought she did.

Now, if she could just find a vampire to pummel, she might actually feel slightly better.

* * *

><p>Quinn drove the three of them to Santana's funeral; she held Brittany's hand on the way over and throughout the service, only letting go to get out of the car. Quinn stood between the blonde and Rachel, but as Santana's coffin began being lowered into the ground, Rachel walked around to the other side and took Brittany's free hand. She was thankful the brunette was around; she was trying to be strong for Brittany, but it was hard when she was hurting so much as well. Rachel always seemed to know exactly what to do and say, though.<p>

They stayed long after everyone else started dispersing; most people left them alone throughout the service and Quinn was just happy she didn't have to make small talk at a time like this. Tina did come over to give the two blondes a hug while Artie sat awkwardly by; it was clear he didn't want to be there, but was there for Tina. Quinn wasn't exactly sure why the girl was here, but whatever the reason, it was nice to have her around. Sue also came over and was oddly considerate for the first time in Quinn's memory. The worst, though, was when Santana's parents came over; when Santana's father walked away, Rachel had walked away as well, clearly to give Quinn and Brittany some time with Santana's mother.

"Come on, Brittany," her mother said to her, extending her hand.

Brittany sighed and turned to Quinn and Rachel. "My mom wants me to come home tonight."

Quinn nodded and pulled Brittany into a hug. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will," Brittany said, hugging her tightly.

"The same goes for me," Rachel said, hugging her when Quinn was done.

"Thanks for letting me stay over," Brittany said, hugging Rachel just as tightly as she has Quinn. "I don't know what I would have done without you guys."

"No need to thank me," Rachel said, pulling back and wiping a tear from Brittany's cheek. "We're friends and that's what friends do."

Brittany smiled sadly and finally turned around and took her mother's hand. Rachel sighed and turned to Quinn; they were the only two left in the cemetery.

"How are you?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "I've been better."

Rachel smiled and shook her head. "What was Sue going on about earlier?"

Quinn sat down in the grass, sighed, and slowly looked up at Rachel. "I quit the Cheerios."

"What?" Rachel said, completely surprised. "When? Why?"

"Last night," Quinn said, looking down and picking at a blade of grass. "And I don't really know why; it just sort of came out, but I'm glad I did. I can't imagine doing it without Santana."

"What about Brittany?" Rachel quietly asked.

"She knows," Quinn replied. "I told her this morning. I don't know if she's going to stay on or not, but she understood why I wouldn't want to be on it anymore. I think she's thinking about it as well; it's hard to be on that field without thinking of her. Plus, for me, it'll free up some of my time and I can focus more on my Slayer duty."

"We'll figure out who did it," Rachel said, sitting beside her. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You still feel like it's your fault, like you weren't focused enough on it before?"

"Sort of," Quinn replied. "Yeah."

"I feel so bad for Santana's parents," Rachel said, looking around. "I know it's terrible for everyone—you lost your best friend, Brittany lost the girl she loves—but I can't imagine losing a child, though."

"Me too," Quinn said, staring at her hands. "She was their only child. You wouldn't know it by the way she acted, but she was really close with them, especially her mom. Whenever we had sleepovers at her house, she always cooked for us and was fussing about, making sure we all had everything we needed. I always felt more at home there than I ever did my own house."

"She sounds nice," Rachel said, smiling.

"She's how a mom is supposed to be," Quinn replied. "Until I met her, I didn't realize that. My mother was always so cold and did whatever my father wanted, but Maribel was warm and didn't take crap from anyone, especially her own husband." Quinn smiled. "Santana definitely got her attitude and stubbornness from her. She got her heart, too, but Santana always tried to hide hers. She thought people would think she was weak, so she would pull out the attitude to push everyone away so they didn't see her." Quinn sighed and looked up at Rachel. "I can't believe my mother didn't come today; she knew how much Santana meant to me, but she didn't even bother showing up."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Did you think she would be here?"

"I hoped she would be," Quinn replied. "I know it's stupid, but I really wanted her to come today."

"It's not stupid," Rachel said, shaking her head.

Quinn sighed. "I should have known better; she would never go against my father—not even for her own daughter." Quinn looked around for a moment and then looked at Rachel again. "Do you know what your mother was like? Did you ever meet her or know anything about her?"

Rachel shook her head. "I don't really know anything other than the few things my fathers told me. She was only nineteen and pregnant; she met them somewhere along the way and they had been talking about adoption, so she asked if they would like to adopt hers when she had it. Once I was born, she left, and I don't think they ever saw her again. I've never met her and they never really talked about her, so I never really pressed for details."

"Did you ever wish you had a mom?" Quinn wondered.

Rachel shrugged. "Sometimes, but my dads were always so wonderful that I usually didn't think anything about it really."

"I wish I could have met your other dad," Quinn said.

"So do I; I think he would have liked you," Rachel replied

"Yeah?" Quinn said, smiling.

"Yeah," Rachel said, smiling back.

* * *

><p>"It's going to be night soon," Rachel said, looking up at the sky.<p>

"Yeah," Quinn agreed.

"Do you want to go home?" Rachel asked.

They had stayed in the cemetery for hours simply talking; Quinn had made no move to leave, so Rachel had stayed with her the entire time. She didn't seem to mind, though, and Quinn was happy to have the company since she really didn't feel like being alone right now.

"You should, but I'm going to stay here for a bit longer," Quinn replied.

Rachel frowned. "Are you sure, because I can stay if you're staying."

"No, it's fine," Quinn replied. "I'm going to patrol some, so I'll be home late."

"If you're sure," Rachel said, hesitantly standing up and dusting the back of her dress off. "Don't stay out too late, okay? And wake me when you get home—although, I'll probably still be awake. If I'm not, though, come in anyway and let me know you made it home safely."

"I will," Quinn said, smiling at her.

Rachel bent down and gave Quinn a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be careful out here."

"You know me," Quinn said, giving her a lopsided smile.

Quinn watched the brunette until she was completely out of sight; as soon as the brunette was out of sight, she reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a stake.

"Come on, Santana," Quinn whispered, looking intently at the mound of freshly dug earth.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I did warn you that no one was safe.<strong>

**Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated, but t****ry not to yell at me too much.**


	8. Aftermath, Part 2

**DarkInu418: Quinn's costume was a definite Buffy reference ("She couldn't have dressed up like Xena?") as was Rachel's.**

**Frost47: I do know; it's still going to be a bit, but some later chapters are going to have her as more the main focus.**

**Obviously a lot of you were not happy that I killed Santana and I knew that going in, but that's exactly why she was the one to die. If it had been anyone other than one of the main girls, no one would have really cared and it wouldn't have had much of an impact on the characters either. I do everything for a reason and I've had the whole story planned out since before I ever wrote the first word of chapter one. Believe me, it wasn't easy to write and I actually got a little sick to my stomach while writing them finding her body and the scene after when they're at Rachel's house.**

**That being said…enjoy…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 – Aftermath, Part 2<strong>

Quinn stood up and started pacing; she always hated waiting on vampires, but this was torture. She knew Santana had been turned and would crawl out of her grave and she wasn't going to leave until it happened. She couldn't let her best friend end up like that; she deserved better than spending eternity as a vampire.

She had been sitting around for hours, but a while after she started pacing, she thought she heard something beneath the surface. She didn't know whether or not it was her imagination, but then a hand shot up from the ground, though, and Quinn jumped back, stumbling over her own feet and falling onto her butt. It didn't take long for Santana to crawl out from the dirt and Quinn watched on in horror as her best friend stood in front of her again. She knew it was going to happen, but knowing it and seeing it were two different things. Quinn finally stood up, but seemed to be rooted to the spot as the brunette vampire brushed the dirt from her dress.

Santana stopped when she was satisfied with the state of her clothing and looked up at Quinn, smirking. "Hey, Q. I wondered if you would be waiting on me."

Quinn swallowed thickly and looked away, telling herself that this wasn't Santana—this was the thing that was inhabiting her body, but it wasn't her friend. She couldn't let herself think about it being Santana or she wouldn't be able to do what she needed to do.

"What, don't you have anything to say to me?" Santana asked. "I did die after all and you can't even say hello?"

Quinn looked at her and clenched her jaw. "You're not Santana."

The vampire looked down at herself and then threw her arms out to the side. "Well, I damn well look like Santana. Although, who the hell picked out this dress? Seriously, I die and you guys can't pick something better for me to wear? I look like my abuela in this thing." Santana huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I think I'm going to find out who picked this out and kill them first."

"Santana!" Quinn shouted as the brunette started walking away.

"I thought I wasn't Santana," she replied, turning around, and raising her eyebrow.

Quinn opened her mouth, but quickly closed it and Santana started smirking at her again. She looked away from her friend's eyes and gripped her stake so tightly that her knuckles were white.

"Are you here to kill me?" Santana asked, motioning to the stake. "Because it's funny if you think that's going to happen. You're no longer the only one with powers and I will happily kick your ass. I've wanted to do it since freshman year when you made all the Cheerios run those extra laps just because that one girl gained a couple pounds over the break. You've always been so self-righteous and it's about damn time someone shows you that you're not as perfect as you think you are."

"I never said I was perfect!" Quinn snapped.

"Well, that much is obvious now," Santana replied. "You're the Slayer—you're supposed to protect people and make the world a better place or whatever, but you couldn't even protect your best friend."

Quinn felt the tears prickling at her eyes. "Stop."

"Why? It's the truth," Santana said, stepping closer to her. "You let Matt die and that little boy a few weeks ago that was ripped to shreds. You let me die and get turned into a vampire; how can you save anyone when you couldn't save your best friend? I was screaming in the locker room for someone to help me, but you were too busy with your little girlfriend to come save me."

"Why are you doing this?" Quinn asked.

Santana smiled. "Because I can—and believe me, this is just the beginning. I'm going to destroy everything in your life until you have nothing left, and then I am going to kill you. I will do to Berry what was done to me and make sure you do hear her scream."

Quinn didn't even realize she had done it until her fist connected with Santana's jaw and the vampire stumbled back. Tears were streaming down her face as she watched her friend's face go from shock to one with a sinister smile upon it.

"Or I can kill you now," Santana said before running at Quinn.

Quinn was knocked down by Santana, who jumped on her, straddling her waist, and pinning her hands above her head. The brunette had always been fast when she was on the Cheerios—faster than Quinn—and it was magnified now. Quinn knew her weaknesses, though, and stomped on her ankle, which has always been bothersome to her. The blonde used the momentary distraction to head-butt the girl above her and then kicked the vampire off.

Santana was rubbing at her forehead, but laughed. "Seriously, Q, that's the best you can do? I'm surprised you're not the one who had to crawl out of her grave. The other vampires in this town must be as lame as the breathing people."

Quinn ignored the stinging in her eyes and the pain in her chest as she landed a kicked to Santana's stomach; the brunette doubled over but laughed and then looked up at her. Quinn tried to ignore the fact that she was staring into her best friend's eyes and punched her in the jaw again, causing her to be knocked to the ground; Santana was still laughing even though she was on her hands and knees, bleeding.

"What are you going to do, kill your best friend again?" Santana asked, looking up at Quinn, who had the stake raised. "You already killed me once—it's your fault I'm like this—and now you're going to kill me again?"

Quinn's hands were shaking as she looked down at the other girl; she dropped her arms and they fell limply to her side. Santana's eyes were gleaming until Quinn dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Santana's neck.

"What are you doing?" Santana rasped out as Quinn applied pressure.

"Remember that move Coach showed us last year?" Quinn asked.

Santana was scratching at her arms, trying to stop her, but Quinn didn't let go until she was limp in her arms. She looked down at the brunette and closed her eyes as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Quinn lifted Santana's body out of her car and started dragging her towards the school. She had tried carrying the girl over her shoulder, but the brunette was a lot heavier than she appeared, so Quinn resorted to putting her arms under Santana's and dragging her. She needed to quickly get her inside before the other girl woke up or there would be another fight and she really didn't want to do that again.<p>

The blonde lifted up her shoulder to wipe the sweat off her face before shifting Santana so she was holding her up with just her left arm. She dug around her bag and pulled out the key Sylvester had given her long ago and then quickly opened the door, threw the key back into her bag, and grabbed Santana with both hands, pulling her across the threshold. She had made up her mind in the car that there was only one place she could really hide the vampire. Sylvester and Rachel would obviously find her if she was in the training room, which left her with only one other option.

Quinn walked to the far end of the hall and checked the door; it was unlocked, so she pushed it open with her elbow and stared down the stairs. She groaned as she pulled Santana down each step, trying not to let her fall. Although, after remembering everything she had said, she did think about dropping her several times.

As soon as she was at the bottom, she lowered Santana to the ground and wiped her face with her hand as she looked around the room. She had found this place a long time ago with Santana and Brittany. Santana had dared them all to sneak into the school the week before they started their freshman year. Quinn didn't want to go, but Santana was always convincing and somehow talked her into it. Since Santana was the smallest, the other two had lifted her up through the bathroom window and then Santana walked around to one of the side doors to let them in. They explored the place for a while until they heard a noise; they thought it might be a janitor, so they ran to the closest door to hide, which turned out to be the door to the basement. They waited for the noise to disappear and then the three of them ran for it with Quinn vowing to never listen to Santana again. She remembered that night every time she passed by the door, but this was the first time she had gone through the door since then.

There were several doors leading off from the main room, so Quinn walked over and looked in each. A few had desks and tables and bunch of other broken things, but one of them was completely empty except for a few pipes running along the wall. Quinn walked over and pulled on them as hard as she could, but they seemed secure, so she threw her bag down and walked back into the other room, grabbing Santana under the arms again, and pulling her into the empty room. She set her down onto the ground and then grabbed her bag and pulled out a long rope from within. She cut it into two pieces and wrapped one piece around Santana's upper arms and torso several times and the other around her legs. When she was done, she tied the ends into a knot and stood up. Now she needed something to chain Santana to the pipes and knew exactly where to find it.

"Don't go anywhere," Quinn said to the unconscious girl.

Quinn turned around, ran up the stairs to the first floor, and quickly walked to the training room. She remembered seeing a pair of shackles on the wall and they were just what she needed to bind Santana. The ropes wouldn't last long, but the combination of the two should keep the vampire at bay for now.

She threw open the door and ran over to the wall where the shackles were hanging; she didn't know why Sylvester had them and she never had the desire to ask. After grabbing them from the wall, Quinn ran back the way she came, and walked into the room just as the vampire was beginning to stir. Quinn pushed her back against the pipes, wrapped the chain behind them, and fastened them to Santana's wrists before she could become fully conscious.

"You know, Q, if you wanted me this bad, you could have just asked," Santana said, pulling at the chains. "I never figured you one for the kinky stuff, but I guess you're full of surprises."

Quinn rolled her eyes and ignored Santana's comments. "You should be okay here; I've never actually seen anyone come down here, so you'll be okay until morning."

"Oh, goody," Santana deadpanned. "I don't suppose you could bring me someone to eat? Preferably a short, annoying, brunette that you seem to be fond of; I'm sure she'd make a tasty meal."

Quinn clinched her fists, trying not to react to Santana baiting her. "I'll go to the butcher shop in the morning and see what I can get for you."

"This won't hold me," Santana said, staring intently at Quinn.

Quinn shrugged and turned away. "I guess we'll see."

Quinn knew this was probably a terrible idea that was going to blow up in her face, but she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't let Santana go, but she also couldn't stake her; she had tried convincing herself that she would be able to when the time came, but she was just fooling herself. As soon as she saw Santana, all she could see was her best friend and she couldn't dust her.

Part of her was hoping she could somehow get the girl back even though the other part of her knew it was impossible. Santana had never been the nicest person even when she was alive, but now she was soulless and evil and Quinn knew she wouldn't think twice about destroying her and everything she cared about. Still, though, it didn't make her job any easier and she needed to see if there was even the smallest possibility of getting her friend back.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked into Rachel's house and tiredly walked up the stairs. The brunette's door was cracked slightly and light was coming from the room. When she looked in, Rachel was lying on her bed with her eyes closed; the book she had been reading was on her pillow, beside her head, and she was sound asleep. Rachel always tried waiting up for her, but Quinn usually found her in this position when she came home from patrol.<p>

Quinn walked into the room and quietly shut the door behind her; she walked over to Rachel and took the book from her pillow, putting the bookmark in so she wouldn't lose her place. She watched her for a moment before moving a strand of hair from her forehead and smiling at the peaceful look on her face. Rachel seemed to be getting more and more worried these days, so it was nice to see her relaxed and not worrying about anything.

"Hey, Rach," Quinn whispered, gently shaking the other girl.

Rachel moaned and stretched a bit before cracking an eye open and groggily saying, "You're home."

"I am," Quinn replied.

"How was it?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged and smiled sadly to herself. "It could have been worse."

"You're okay, right?" Rachel said, sitting up, and rubbing her eyes. "You didn't get hurt or anything?"

Quinn shook her head. "No injuries."

"Good," Rachel mumbled and Quinn could still tell she was half asleep. "I worry about you so much and I'm so afraid you're not going to come home one night. I know it's your job, but I don't want to lose you; I wish there was someone else that could take your place, so you wouldn't have the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Quinn smiled; she found out a while ago that Rachel was even more honest when she was half asleep than when she was fully awake. She turned to look at the clock before sighing and turning back to Rachel. "Let's get you back to sleep."

"Will you stay with me?" Rachel mumbled, snuggling down into the covers.

"I'm just across the hall," Quinn said, running her hand over Rachel's cheek.

"Please," Rachel said, looking up at her.

Quinn sighed again but nodded. "Okay, I'll stay with you tonight. I'm going to go change clothes, though, okay?"

"Okay," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn went into her room and quickly changed before coming back into Rachel's room; the other girl was still awake and scooted closer to her when the blonde got under the covers.

"I'm glad you come home when you did," Rachel said, pulling her pillow closer and sounding more awake than when Quinn left the room.

"Why is that?" Quinn quietly asked.

Rachel was shifting in bed, but finally stopped and said, "I was dreaming that something was chasing me and I was trying to call your name, but no sound was coming out."

"Do you have a lot of nightmares?" Quinn asked, raising her head to look at the other girl.

"Sometimes," Rachel admitted.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Quinn asked, frowning.

Rachel turned her head to look at Quinn. "You have enough to worry about; my nightmares shouldn't really be on your list of worries with so much else going on."

Quinn put her arm around Rachel's waist and pulled her even closer. "Just because I have a lot going on, it doesn't mean it's not important. Even if you think I have too much to deal with, I still don't want you to keep things from me. That's not how I want us to work; you're there for me and I want to be there for you."

"But my problems are nothing compared to yours and I don't want to burden you," Rachel replied. "I feel bad whining about nightmares when you—" Rachel sighed and looked away. "You just got back from your best friend's funeral."

"Rachel, look at me," Quinn quietly said, turning Rachel's face toward her. "What's going on in my life doesn't make the things going on in yours any less valid. Yes, my life might be a little more stressful than most people's, but I want you to promise that you will stop feeling like you can't tell me things just because you're afraid of burdening me. You are the furthest thing from a burden; you're probably the only thing keeping me sane at this point and I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me. Please—promise me that you'll let me know when something is bothering you ."

"I promise," Rachel whispered.

"Thank you," Quinn said, putting her head back down on the pillow.

Rachel shook her head and smiled. "Goodnight, Quinn."

"Night, Rachel," Quinn said, smiling back. "You know those nightmares are complete crap, though, right? I would totally be there to kick the ass of whatever was chasing you."

Rachel giggled. "I know."

* * *

><p>"How are you?" Sue asked.<p>

Quinn looked at her Watcher in surprise; this was probably the first time in the whole time of knowing the older woman that she ever inquired about how she was. Then again, she had been uncharacteristically concerned and understanding lately and it only took someone dying to make it happen.

"I'm here," Quinn said, shrugging.

Sue nodded. "In time, it'll get easier."

Quinn sighed and started unwrapping her hand; she had nearly destroyed the punching bag today and her hand was killing her. Rachel was supposed to be practicing with some throwing knives, but Quinn noticed she was really watching her the whole time, looking at her in concern. Quinn figured it was better to take her frustration and anger out on an inanimate object than anything else, though. If she didn't get it out now, she would end up taking it out on some poor person that didn't deserve it and she was not going to do that—she wasn't going to turn into her father.

"You okay?" Rachel asked, walking up to the spot that Sue had vacated.

"I really wish people would quit asking me that," Quinn said, smiling sadly at her.

"I know," Rachel replied, putting her hand on the punching bag. "People are just concerned about you; you should be happy that so many people care. When my dad died, the only two people who showed any concern at all were Kurt and Tina. Everyone else walked around like nothing had happened while I felt like my world was over."

"I'm sor—"

"Don't say you're sorry," Rachel interrupted. "I'm not saying this to make you feel bad; I'm just saying that you should be happy that people care enough to ask if you're okay."

"It's just—weird," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Plus, I never know what to say to people because I'm not really okay, but I don't want their pity, so I say I am."

"People don't know what to ask when something like this happens," Rachel said, shrugging. "They know you're not okay in the normal sense, but we basically want to make sure you're not going to break down at any moment, so that's why we ask." Rachel smiled at her and Quinn laughed lightly. "So, you never answered my question—are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Quinn said, nudging Rachel with her shoulder. "Okay, not really, but you know—given the circumstances, I'm doing the best I can be doing, I guess."

"Good," Rachel replied. "No pending breakdowns?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Quinn replied back.

Quinn would never be able to tell Rachel how grateful she was to have her around right now. The brunette knew when to be serious, but she also knew how to joke with her. Everyone else seemed to be walking on eggshells around her, but all she really wanted was for things to be normal again—or at least as normal as they could be. Rachel was the only one not afraid to lighten the mood a little bit; she was still completely serious when Brittany was around, but when it was just the two of them, Rachel usually tried to make her feel better by engaging in their usual banter.

"Can I walk you to class?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"I umm—I actually have something that I need to do," Quinn said, hoping Rachel wouldn't ask what that something was.

"Oh," Rachel replied, nodding. "I guess I'll see you in third period?"

"I'll see you then," Quinn replied, leaning down to grab her bag.

Rachel watched her leave the room and Quinn walked down the hall, looking over her shoulder to make sure the brunette wasn't still watching her. Students were milling about the halls, waiting for the first bell to ring, but no one was really paying attention to her, so she slipped into the door to the basement and shut it softly behind her. She had a stake in her pocket, ready to grab it if Santana somehow freed herself, and a container of blood wrapped up in her bag. The butcher looked at her strangely when she asked for it, but didn't ask about it even though it was obvious he wanted to.

When Quinn opened the door and looked into the room, Santana was exactly where she had left her. She cautiously walked over to her and checked the chains, but they were still secure.

"Come to put a stake in my heart?" Santana asked, smirking at her.

"I brought you some blood," Quinn said, pulling the container out of her bag, and kneeling down next to Santana.

"No thanks," Santana said, eyeing the container with disdain. "I would much rather it be fresh and right from the source. Berry's up there somewhere, right? Why don't you bring her down here?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and stood up. "Suit yourself; I'll be back later if you change your mind."

"I look forward to it," Santana replied, smiling at her.

* * *

><p>"You don't look good," Brittany said, looking at Quinn.<p>

Quinn just smiled at the other blonde. "I was out late."

"Oh," Brittany said with a nod. "I didn't sleep very much, either. I kept dreaming about Santana—that she was still here, but I would try to go to her and she would disappear before I got there."

Rachel looked at her sympathetically. "It's understandable that you would have dreams like that, but I'm sure they will go away."

"Yeah, I've been having a lot of bad dreams too," Quinn said, putting her hand on Brittany's. "You just have to ignore them and tell yourself they're not real."

"I sort of wish they were," Brittany said, causing Quinn and Rachel to exchange a look. "At least it would mean she's still here; I could see her even if I couldn't touch her. It would be better than nothing."

"Hey, guys," Tina said, standing beside the table with her tray in her hand. "Do you mind if I s-sit down?"

"I don't know your name," Brittany said, frowning. "Santana always called you 'Goth Chick', but that's not your name, is it? It would be a really weird name if it was."

"Tina," she replied, sitting down. "My name is Tina."

"I actually don't know anyone's name that sits at this table other than you two," Brittany said, looking at Quinn and Rachel and frowning.

"Well, 'Wheelchair Kid' is Artie, 'Prancy Smurf' is Kurt, and 'Wheezy' is Mercedes," Quinn said, remembering all the names Santana used for them.

Quinn knew that without Santana, these were probably going to be the only friends Brittany would have. She knew how the rest of the school saw her friend; they all thought she was slow and Santana was the one that always protected her from the rest of the student body. Without her, though, Brittany was going to get picked on like the rest of the kids that she ate lunch with. Of course Quinn would do her best to protect her, but even she wasn't on the Cheerios anymore and it was only a matter of time before she became an outcast herself. Not that she really cared anymore; popularity was something she had always strived for, but she found that it didn't make her happy. She had bigger things to worry about than if she was going to be nominated for prom queen.

"What's up," Artie said, wheeling up to the table.

"Hey, Artie," Brittany greeted, smiling at him.

Quinn smiled at Rachel, who cleared her throat and said, "Mr. Schuester stopped me in the hall earlier; he cancelled today's practice, but said for everyone to be there on Friday."

"Hot damn," Artie said, pumping his fist.

Rachel looked at him disapprovingly. "However, I think we should still meet in the choir room; Sectionals is only a month away and we need all the practice we can get."

"What's the point?" Tina asked. "Unless we find six other members, we won't be allowed to compete."

"I want to join!" Brittany loudly said, causing Tina to jump.

"W-what?" Tina asked.

"I've wanted to join for a while, but Santana said only losers are in Glee club," Brittany stated, causing Rachel to scowl.

"I'm sure they would love to have you, Brittany," Quinn said, raising her eyebrow at her three companions.

"Yeah," Artie said, smiling at Brittany, but glancing at Quinn. "We could use as many people as we can get right now."

"I'm a really awesome dancer," Brittany proudly said. "I can sing okay, but I like dancing a lot better. Oh, Quinn can join too!"

Quinn choked on her water for a moment before sputtering out, "What?"

"You can sing and dance," Brittany said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Plus, Rachel is like your best friend now and I'm in the club and you quit the squad, so you have the time."

"I—"

"Come on," Brittany said, nearly vibrating with excitement. "It will be fun!"

"I—guess," Quinn said, and the moment the word passed her lips, Brittany was already out of her seat and hugging her.

"This will be so great," Brittany said, squeezing her tightly.

"Yeah," Quinn said, giving the other blonde a very fake smile.

"I have to go find Coach and tell her I'm going to be late for practice Friday," Brittany said, jumping out of her seat.

"Well, she certainly is excited," Rachel said, watching the other girl skip across the cafeteria.

"So much for getting more free time," Quinn mumbled.

"It won't be as bad as being on the Cheerios," Rachel said, putting her head on the blonde's shoulder. "It's only three times a week for an hour. You won't even have to get up early since we always meet after school."

Quinn sighed. "There was no way I could say no to her."

"I know," Rachel said, patting Quinn's hand.

"At least she's smiling and happy again," Quinn noted. "I guess it will be worth it if it makes takes her mind off Santana."

"You're a good friend," Rachel said, smiling at her.

"Tell that to Santana," Quinn quietly mumbled.

* * *

><p>Rachel noticed that Quinn had been acting strangely all day, but assumed it was because of what happened. However, when she saw her looking around and then sneaking through a door that Rachel had never noticed before, she started getting suspicious that something was up with the other girl. She looked around to make sure no one was watching her and then quietly turned the doorknob and peeked in. She was at the top of a set of stairs and there was a dim light coming from the bottom. Rachel glanced around again and then walked into the room, shutting the door behind her. She couldn't see Quinn, so she walked down the steps as quietly as she could. She could hear Quinn's voice coming from one of the rooms, but there were two doors side-by-side and she didn't know which one the blonde was in. She barely cracked the one on the left open, but it was full of broken furniture. She closed the door and put her hand on the other doorknob, but paused; she heard a second voice coming from the room and frowned at the familiarity of it.<p>

Instead of opening the door, she put her ear against it and tried to hear what Quinn and whoever else in there was saying, but everything was too muffled to make out any words. She was internally debating the pros and cons of opening the door; she didn't want Quinn angry with her, but Quinn had been the one just the previous night to make her promise not to keep secrets, so it would be awfully hypocritical of her to be keeping them.

Rachel steeled herself, taking a deep breath before she twisted the knob and looked inside the room. What she saw, though, knocked the wind out of her lungs.

"You brought me a meal," Santana said, smirking. "How sweet."

The door slowly creaked the rest of the way open as Rachel stood rooted to the spot, in complete shock. She looked to Quinn, but the other girl seemed almost as shocked as she was.

"Rachel!" Quinn finally said, finding her voice. "You followed me?"

"I-I—" Rachel was still completely speechless and kept looking at the girl that she now noticed was chained to the wall.

"Rachel," Quinn said, this time a lot softer.

Santana started tutting, drawing their attention to her. "Already keeping secrets from your girlfriend, Q? You two kids will never make it if you do things like that. I guess that is the Fabray way, though."

"Shut up, Santana," Quinn said between gritted teeth.

"What?" Santana asked, smiling innocently. "It's the truth. Pop hits you and you keep it a secret. Pop hits your mother and you keep it a secret. You mother drinks like a fish and you keep it a secret. You're going to end up just like them—lying to everyone while appearing to be such a perfect human being that no one suspects a thing."

"That's enough!" Rachel finally said when she saw the look of anguish on Quinn's face. "What the hell is going on? I thought she was dead. I-I was at her funeral yesterday!"

"And I thought you were supposed to be smart," Santana said, smirking at her. "I _am_ dead—just not quite in the traditional sense."

"Oh my god," Rachel said, finally understanding.

She put her head in her hands and backed against the wall for support. Santana was a vampire and she couldn't think of anything more terrifying than that.

"It turns out that it doesn't matter if your best friend is the Slayer because she's just going to let you die anyway," Santana said as Rachel shook her head in disbelief. "You know you'll be next, right? Because if something else doesn't get to you first, I'll be sure to do it and let Q watch the whole thing. It's her fault that I'm like this and it's going to be her fault when I drain every last ounce of blood from your body."

Rachel finally looked into Santana's eyes, seeing nothing but hatred in them, and fully believed Santana would do all the things she was saying she would do.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Santana asked, tilting her head as she stared at Rachel.

"I believe you," Rachel said, pushing off from the wall. "I believe you'll try, anyway. I don't believe that Quinn would ever let it happen, though."

"Why not," Santana asked, shrugging. "She wasn't there when I needed her; why would you be any different?"

"None of this is her fault," Rachel stated. "You're simply doing this to hurt her, but she's too smart to listen to you. You may look like her, but you're not the girl she knew."

"Then why am I chained to this wall?" Santana asked, rattling the chains. "She tried to put a stake through my heart last night and couldn't do it."

Rachel looked at Quinn who looked away; she wanted to ask her if it was true, but instead said, "We should get to class; the bell rang ten minutes ago."

Quinn nodded and walked across the room without looking at Rachel. She held the door open for the brunette and then locked it behind them when Rachel stepped out.

"Quinn—"

"Can we please just talk about it at home?" Quinn asked, her eyes full of sadness.

"Sure," Rachel quietly said, nodding.

Rachel watched as Quinn trudged up the steps and out of sight. She then looked back to the door that held Santana and sighed. Things were bad enough before, but she knew they just got a lot worse.

* * *

><p>Quinn stood outside and stared up at Rachel's window. The lights were still on, so she knew the brunette was up and waiting for her to get home. She asked if they could talk at home, but she didn't want to talk; she was just trying to delay the inevitable, but now she was going to have to deal with it. She knew Rachel wouldn't be happy with her for keeping it a secret, but she had hoped no one would ever find out. She was stupid to think Rachel wouldn't figure it out, though; the girl always learned her secrets and usually within hours.<p>

She sighed and started walking toward the house, knowing she couldn't delay it any longer. She quietly opened and shut the door, trying not to wake Leroy, and then walked up the stairs, which creaked beneath her feet. When she got to the top, she took a deep breath and readied herself for what was about to come.

"Quinn?" Rachel quietly called out.

"Yeah," Quinn said, walking the rest of the way to Rachel's room.

"I was just making sure it was you," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded, but she knew Rachel was lying; the brunette had probably been sitting by the window all night and knew the instant Quinn's car pulled into the driveway. She was probably growing impatient as she waited for Quinn to finally come in, though, and was trying to hurry her along by letting her know she knew she was there.

"I'm going to change," Quinn said as she turned and left the room.

She pulled off her jeans and t-shirt and threw on a clean tank top and shorts before walking back to Rachel's room, where the brunette was on the bed, waiting patiently for her.

Quinn closed the door and sighed. "Okay, let me have it."

"Have what?" Rachel asked, titling her head to the side.

"Aren't you going to yell at me?" Quinn asked.

"Yell at you?" Rachel's eyebrows knitted together. "Why would I yell at you?"

"I—" Quinn sighed and walked over to sit beside Rachel. "I thought you would be mad at me."

"I'm not angry," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I'm confused and slightly hurt that you didn't tell me, but I'm not mad at you."

"Oh," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Does this mean our talk can wait until the morning?"

"Nice try," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

Quinn shrugged. "I thought it was worth a shot."

"When did you even know that she had been turned?" Rachel asked.

"I knew as soon as I saw the bite marks," Quinn answered. "It was too much of a coincidence that my best friend of all people had been killed by a vampire. Someone was trying to send me a message and I just knew they turned her to make it that much worse. I stayed after you left and waited on her; I was going to kill her and hope no one ever found out, but I couldn't do it. I had the stake in my hand and I just couldn't kill her." Quinn closed her eyes, shaking her head. "As you can tell by today, she blames me for it and keeps threatening to kill you."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Rachel deadpanned before turning to Quinn and sighing. "I don't understand why you didn't tell me, though."

"Because I still feel like it's my fault," Quinn whispered. "I didn't want you to know because—I'm the reason she's like this, and I thought I could end it before anyone knew. I failed, though, and now she's—" Quinn wiped the tears from her eyes and hung her head. "I didn't want you to be ashamed of me."

"You have to stop beating yourself up," Rachel said, forcing Quinn to look at her. "How many times do I have to tell you that none of this is your fault? She's only blaming you because she's trying to get under your skin, but that is not the Santana you knew."

Quinn couldn't help but laugh lightly even though she was still crying. "Sounds an awful lot like her."

"I'm serious, Quinn," Rachel said, nudging the blonde. "Santana could be mean, but she wasn't _this_ cruel. Right now, she's saying everything she can to hurt you, so she's blaming you and threatening me because she knows that's what is going to hurt you the most."

"I know," Quinn replied, leaning back on the mattress. "I know I shouldn't listen to her, but the things she's saying are the things I've been thinking. You say it's not my fault and I know that I can't stop everything, but I can't help feeling like it is."

Rachel sighed. "What are you going to do about her?"

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "I should stake her; it's the only sane thing to do, but I just can't do it."

Rachel nodded. "We'll figure something out; we always do."

* * *

><p>"Do you know how long a vampire can eat before it dies?" Rachel asked, but then she frowned. "Can vampires even die if they don't eat? It's not one of the things I've read about, so I wonder what happens if they never get to feed. Do you think anyone has ever done an experiment on one to see?" Quinn looked at her curiously. "I wasn't suggesting we should experiment on Santana; I was simply wondering."<p>

"Just making sure," Quinn said with a laugh.

Rachel looked at the bag in Quinn's hand and wrinkled her nose. "I can't believe butcher shops sell that stuff. Of course I also can't believe anyone would slaughter innocent animals for food when there are so many other alternatives." Rachel sighed and looked at Quinn. "What do they think people use that for?"

Quinn shrugged. "I don't know, but I guess he's not used to seeing a lot of teenage girls asking for it because he gives me the weirdest looks when I ask for it."

"You should tell him it's what all the cool kids want these days," Rachel said, smiling. "Or that you suspect someone is telekinetic, so you're going to dump it on them to see if they pull a Carrie."

"Or I could just tell him that I need it to feed my pet vampire," Quinn said, smirking.

"You better not let Santana hear you say that," Rachel said, looking down the hall.

"What's she going to do, threaten to kill me and everyone I care about?" Quinn replied, opening the basement door. "She's already doing that; I don't think it could get much worse."

Rachel walked in first, but Quinn grabbed her arm, holding her back once she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" Rachel asked, looking at her.

"Let me go first," Quinn answered. "Just in case."

Quinn opened the door, ready to fight if she needed to, but Santana was still chained to the wall; she smirked when she saw the two and Quinn noticed she was eyeing Rachel in particular.

"Lunchtime," Quinn said, holding up the bag.

"I'll pass," Santana said, still staring at Rachel.

Rachel was hanging around the back of the room, but squared her shoulders and walked closer. Quinn knew it was a show of defiance; she wasn't going to let Santana know she was scared of her in any way. She never cowered away from her when she was alive, and Quinn guessed she wasn't going to now either even though vampire Santana was a lot scarier than human Santana.

"Are you ever going to let me eat her?" Santana asked.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yes, any day now."

"It would make the world a better place," Santana said, smirking. "No one would have to listen to her annoying rants about things that no one cares about and no one would have to see her ugly face again. Really, I would be doing everyone a favor."

Quinn took a step toward Santana, but Rachel held out her arm, stopping her.

"Why are you so fixated on me?" Rachel asked.

"Because I want Quinn to hear you scream and be unable to do anything about it," Santana said, looking directly into Rachel's eyes.

Rachel sighed. "Why are you doing this? I don't understand. If you're so angry about being a vampire, then why would you ever side with the things that did this to you? Why wouldn't you want to help us instead of fighting us?"

"I—"

Santana's eyes drifted from Rachel's and she was staring past her. Rachel looked over her shoulder to see what had gotten the vampire's attention and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Britt—"

As soon as the word was out of Santana's mouth, Quinn turned around and saw the other blonde standing at the door. She looked like she was in complete shock and even from where she was standing, Quinn could tell that her legs were trembling. Brittany's eyes were wide and full of tears as she and Santana continued staring at one other. Before anyone could say anything, though, the blonde turned and ran up the stairs.

"Britt!" Santana yelled after her.

Santana ducked her head, but Rachel could see the tears in the vampire's eyes.

"I'll go after her," Quinn said, addressing the two brunettes.

"I'll stay here," Rachel said, still looking at Santana.

"Are you sure?" Quinn whispered.

Rachel nodded. "I'm sure."

"Take this," Quinn said, handing her stake to the brunette. "Use it if you have to—and don't listen to anything she says to you."

By the time Quinn stepped into the hall, Brittany was already out of sight. She knew exactly where the other girl would be, though, and went straight for the locker room. When Quinn walked into the room, she could hear Brittany's sniffles coming from the far corner.

"Brittany?" she said, poking her head around the lockers.

"What's going on?" Brittany asked, staring at the linoleum floor.

"I don't even know where to begin," Quinn said, throwing her hands out and shrugging.

"Santana is in that room," Brittany said, looking up. "But a week ago, I saw her right over there and she was dead." Brittany was pointing a few feet away, but staring at Quinn. "I don't get what's going on or why you would keep her from me."

Quinn sighed and joined Brittany on the bench. "Do you want to know everything or just the basics?"

"I want to know everything," Brittany quietly said.

"I found out several months ago that I'm—not quite normal," Quinn stated. "I used to be, but then a girl died and I was the next in line to become the Slayer. There are bad things in the world and it's my job to stop them. Coach Sylvester is my Watcher, which means she's in charge of training me and trying to keep me alive, although sometimes I seriously wonder how the hell she ever got that job." Quinn sighed and shook her head. "I know none of this probably makes sense to you, but you have to believe that I'm telling you the truth now. For a while Rachel was the only one that knew, but last month I told Santana who I am."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Brittany asked.

"Because I asked her not to," Quinn replied. "She wasn't happy about it, but I made her promise. People can't know who I am and I was afraid that—"

"You were afraid I would be stupid enough to tell people," Brittany finished.

"I was afraid you would let it slip to the wrong person," Quinn corrected. "I don't think you're stupid; it's just that sometimes you say things you don't mean to and it's important that you don't let that happen this time."

Brittany nodded. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Santana wasn't murdered like people think," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes. "She wasn't killed by a human; she was killed by a vampire and it turned her into one. I know she looks like her, but she isn't the Santana you knew."

"Is that why she was saying all those mean things to Rachel?" Brittany asked, frowning.

Quinn sighed. "You heard that?"

Brittany nodded. "At first I thought I was hearing things; like, I thought I was hearing her voice because I missed hearing her, so I finally opened the door and then I saw her."

"I was going to kill her, but I couldn't do it," Quinn said, avoiding Brittany's gaze. "I didn't want her to be like that."

"You were going to kill her?" Brittany asked, horrified.

"She's already dead," Quinn said, but she knew it didn't sound much better. "It's not like I was killing _her_; I was killing the monster."

"Then why couldn't you do it?" Brittany asked.

Quinn sighed. "Because knowing that and being able to go through with it are two different things. I keep saying that's not Santana because I think I'm still trying to convince myself."

"I want to talk to her," Brittany quietly said.

"Brittany—"

"Please," Brittany begged. "I need to talk to her."

"What if she says the same things to you that she's saying to Rachel?" Quinn asked. "Santana loved you; do you really want to remember her like that—threatening you and trying to hurt you?"

"But what if she still loves me?" Brittany asked.

"I don't think vampires work that way, B," Quinn said, putting her hand over Brittany's. "I don't want you to get your hopes up and then feel like you're losing her again."

"Just once," Brittany said, squeezing her hand. "Please."

Quinn sighed; this was a terrible idea, but how could she say no to Brittany? Even if she did say no, the blonde would probably still sneak down to see her, anyway.

"Okay," Quinn relented. "But you're not going in there alone and I want you to wait until morning. Think about it tonight and make sure you still want to see her after you have the night to think about it."

"I won't change my mind," Brittany replied.

"If you still want to see her, come before practice," Quinn instructed. "Promise me you won't go alone, though."

Brittany nodded. "I promise; I'll be here in the morning."

"Okay," Quinn said, standing up. "Now, I'm going to go save Rachel from Santana."

Brittany smiled slightly. "That's funny; Santana always said she needed saving from Rachel when they were in a room together."

* * *

><p>When Quinn walked down the hall the next morning, she could see Brittany already waiting by the door. The blonde had fallen asleep sitting up and Quinn wondered how long she had been there.<p>

"Do you think she's been here all night?" Rachel whispered.

Quinn shrugged, but suspected the blonde had been. She knew she probably should have let Brittany see Santana the day before, but she was really hoping she would somehow change her mind.

"Wake up," Rachel said, kneeling down, and gently shaking the slumbering girl.

Brittany jumped awake and blearily looked up at Quinn. "Is it morning?"

Quinn nodded. "You haven't changed your mind about this?"

"Did you really think I was going to?" Brittany asked, smiling sadly.

Quinn smiled back. "No."

Quinn opened the door and the other two followed her down the stairs. When she got to the bottom, she turned to Brittany and said, "I know you want to see her, but I have to warn you again that she might say some things that are going to hurt you."

"I know," Brittany replied, still looking just as determined.

Quinn sighed, but walked over and opened the door to Santana's room. Rachel walked inside and then Brittany hesitated for a moment before following the brunette. As soon as Santana saw Brittany, she tried to jump forward, but was stopped by the ropes and chains that were binding her.

"Britt," she said, looking up at the blonde.

Brittany walked closer to the vampire; Quinn reached out to stop her, but she pulled away and crouched directly in front of Santana. Quinn and Rachel were watching the two; Rachel looked fascinated by what was happening while Quinn was ready to protect Brittany if she needed to.

"You shouldn't be here," Santana said, gazing into Brittany's eyes.

"Why not?" Brittany asked, reaching out to touch the ropes that were wrapped around the vampire's arms. "Are you going to hurt me?"

"What?" Santana quickly asked, scowling. "You know I would never do that."

"Do I?" Brittany asked. "Quinn and Rachel were your friends, but you said some really mean things to them yesterday. Why am I any different?"

"Because you are!" Santana said, raising her voice. "You're—I-I—"

"You told me that if anything ever happened to you, you would still love me," Brittany said, watching Santana. "Is that true? Do you still love me?"

"Of course I still love you," Santana replied. "How can you ever think that I would stop?"

Brittany leaned forward, gently kissing Santana's lips; as soon as their lips touched, the brunette closed her eyes and a few tears escaped. When Brittany pulled back, she ran her thumbs across Santana's cheeks and smiled at her.

"Why were you saying those things to Rachel?" Brittany gently asked.

Santana shook her head and frowned. "I don't know." She glanced up at the other two girls in the room. "I'm a vampire and Quinn is the Slayer. It's sort of her job to kill me and I don't want to die again."

"But she didn't kill you," Brittany pointed out. "Even like this, you're still her best friend. I want you to apologize to both of them—especially to Rachel—and promise to never do it again."

"Britt!" Santana whined.

"If you love me, you'll promise it," Brittany said, crossing her arms.

Santana rolled her eyes but looked up to the two and said, "I'm sorry." Brittany nudged her and she rolled her eyes again. "I'm really sorry that I threatened to eat you, Berry, and I promise I won't do it again."

"Now, promise me that you won't hurt anyone," Brittany commanded.

"No one?" Santana asked.

"No one," Brittany repeated.

"Not even people that deserve it?" Santana asked.

"San, promise me," Brittany sternly said.

Santana sighed. "Fine, I promise I won't hurt anyone."

"Okay," Brittany said, standing up. "Quinn, can you release her?"

"Excuse me?" Quinn said, completely confused by what just happened. "How can you believe her?"

"Because she wouldn't lie to me," Brittany said, looking down at Santana.

"She's a vampire," Quinn said, pointing at the tried up girl. "They're not exactly known for being trustworthy members of society."

"She promised and I believe her," Brittany replied. "You know Santana could never lie to me."

"It's my job to protect people." Quinn sighed as she looked at Brittany. "I can't just let her go and trust that she won't kill anyone just because she told you she won't."

"Can we at least take her somewhere else?" Brittany asked. "Some place she isn't alone all day."

"Where would I take her?" Quinn asked.

"How about my basement?" Rachel suggested.

Quinn looked at Rachel in bewilderment. "Seriously—after everything she's said to you, you want to invite her into your house, where you sleep, where I sleep, and where your father sleeps? What if she gets out and kills us all?"

Rachel looked at Santana, who was staring back. "If Brittany trusts her, then I guess I do too."

"Are you insane?" Quinn asked, lowering her voice.

"She can't stay here forever," Rachel whispered. "We'll make sure she can't hurt anyone."

"Fine," Quinn said, throwing her hands up. "But for the record, this is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, and you can put that on my gravestone after she's kills us all in our sleep."

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe I'm doing this," Quinn said, picking Santana up by the shoulders while Brittany had her by the feet.<p>

"You could have untied me and it would make it easier on all of us!" Santana yelled from beneath the blanket that was covering her.

"Can you please just get her into my house," Rachel said, trying to hurry them along. "I think Mrs. Johansen is looking out the window. She's the nosiest woman alive, and if she sees anything, the whole neighborhood will know by tomorrow." Rachel smiled and waved across the street. "Get her inside right now."

Brittany and Quinn started walking faster, but the blanket slipping off the side, exposing part of Santana's leg to the sunlight. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise when the exposed flesh burst into flames. Santana screamed and Rachel dove toward her, patting the blanket against the flame, trying to extinguish it.

"Sorry, San," Brittany said, wincing.

Santana sighed. "It's okay—at least now I know I don't sparkle in the sunlight."

"You would rather burst into flames than sparkle?" Rachel asked.

"Hell, yes," Santana replied and Quinn nodded in agreement. "Those pansy ass vampires give us real vampires a bad name."

"Watch your step," Rachel said, opening the door to her house to let everyone inside, but Quinn stopped walking.

"You have to invite her in," Quinn said, looking back at Rachel.

"Oh, right," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Santana, I invite you inside."

Quinn shrugged and started walking again; she had never tested whether or not vampires actually needed an invitation to go inside, so it was either a myth or had worked because they easily carried Santana across the threshold. They made their way to the basement, but before they got her to it, Brittany accidently knocked a lamp off the table in the hallway and Quinn ran into the doorway. They eventually got her down the steps, though, and Rachel took the blanket off as the other two lowered her to the floor.

Quinn looked around and sighed. "Where are we going to chain her up?"

"I think there are some hooks in the wall," Rachel said, pointing to the right side of the basement. "I don't know what they are for; I asked Dad once, but he said they were here when they moved in and they couldn't make them budge, so they should be secure enough."

Quinn nodded and she and Brittany lifted Santana again, bringing her over to the wall. Quinn wrapped the chain through one of the large, circular hooks and fastened the shackles to the vampire's wrists.

"Can we take the rope off?" Brittany asked.

Quinn looked at Santana, who smirked at her. "I swear, if you try anything, I won't hesitate to turn you into dust."

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said, wiggling her body. "What are you waiting for? Untie me."

She tied the knot so tight that she couldn't untie it and had to grab a saw from the wall to cut the rope. The whole time she was unwrapping the rope from around Santana's torso, she was wondering how she ever let the other two talk her into this. Rachel had just willingly invited a vampire into her house based on her word that she wouldn't hurt anyone. This was completely insane on so many levels.

"What are the chances you'll get me a bed and a television?" Santana asked, looking at Quinn.

Quinn rolled her eyes and ignored Santana. "I have a question for you."

"Will you get me a television if I answer it?" Santana asked.

"Santana," Brittany said, narrowing her eyes at her.

"Okay, fine," Santana said, huffing.

"Who did this to you?" Quinn asked.

"Oh, yeah," Santana said, looking around. "I was supposed to give you a message."

"What message?" Quinn asked.

"She said that you took away the most important person to her, so she was going to take away the most important person to you," Santana said, tilting her head. "Shelby Corcoran—she said her name was Shelby Corcoran and that one of these days, you would call her your Mistress. Then she attacked me." Santana shrugged. "That's all I remember."

* * *

><p>"That was so much fun," Brittany said, jumping up and down.<p>

Quinn couldn't help but laugh. After everything she had dealt with this week, it was nice to have things relatively back to normal. She may have her vampire best friend living in her basement, but at least Brittany was happy again and she didn't have to worry about Santana hurting anyone at the moment.

"I told you it would be fun," Rachel said, smiling at Brittany, but nudging Quinn in the ribs.

"It was okay," Quinn said, trying to hide her smile.

Today was their first Glee meeting and she wouldn't admit it out loud, but she had more fun during it than she had in a long time. Just seeing the look on Finn's face when she walked through the door was enough to make it worth it. Kicking him out of his seat so she could sit next to Rachel was also a bonus for her. At the end, he sulked out of the room, glaring back at her while she just smiled at him.

Finn might not have been happy about it, but the teacher seemed thrilled at having two new students join. Quinn didn't know if she liked the man—he was a little too enthusiastic for her taste—but it was a nice change of pace from Sylvester being in charge.

"I can come over later, right?" Brittany asked, hugging Rachel.

"Of course," Rachel said, hugging her back. "You can come over anytime."

Brittany pulled Quinn into a quick hug and said, "I'll see you later."

The blonde wanted to go with them to see the training room, but Quinn thought it would be better to break the news to Sylvester without the other girl being there to hear her yell. Quinn was saving the news of Santana being a vampire and living in Rachel's basement for another day, though. There was only so much yelling she could take right now.

"You're late," Sue said as soon as the two walking into the room.

"Sorry, Glee ran over," Rachel said, smiling apologetically.

"So what's your excuse?" Sue asked, looking at Quinn.

"Umm—Glee club ran over," Quinn said, avoiding her eyes.

"You quit the nationally ranked Cheerios to join some singing and dancing group of misfits?" Sue asked, narrowing her eyes at Quinn. "I'm disappointed in you, Q; I thought you had better taste than that."

"Before we start training, I have something to tell you," Quinn said, taking a deep breath. "But you're probably going to yell at me, so I do have one question first."

"What's that?" Sue asked, crossing her arms.

"Shelby Corcoran—I feel like I've heard you mention the name before, but I can't remember," Quinn said.

Rachel tried looking the name up online and only found a couple Facebook pages, but the more Quinn thought about it last night, the more she remembered hearing the name before.

"That's because I did mention the name, but you were too busy not listening," Sue said, sounding very annoyed with her at the moment. "Shelby Corcoran was a Slayer."

Quinn's eyes widened. "Oh."

* * *

><p><strong>See, Santana isn't going anywhere. This is a Whedonesque story after all—just because someone is dead, it doesn't mean they're gone.<strong>

**Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated.**


	9. In the Shadows

**Queen Nan: Thank you for being awesome; you did that more eloquently than I ever could.**

**Bvv31389 and love-for-eva: Thank you both as well. It's nice to know most people actually paid attention to the show.**

**DarkInu418: I'm afraid I can only answer one of those questions right now, but yes, it is going to be 22 chapters, and if people continue to enjoy it, I do plan on other doing a sequel (basically season 2). **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9 – In the Shadows<strong>

"Dammit!" Quinn yelled, hoping on one foot before she collapsed into a nearby chair and rubbed her foot.

"Language," Rachel said, scowling at her.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Like you've never heard the word before."

"That's not the point," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

"That damn couch was just dropped on my damn foot; I'm pretty sure there's a rule somewhere that says I'm allowed to cuss when that happens," Quinn replied, still rubbing her injured foot.

"Don't be such a baby," Rachel said, walking over to the blonde, and sitting down next to her.

Quinn scoffed. "Easy for you to say."

"Will you two quit acting like an old, married couple and hook up the fucking television," Santana yelled across the room.

"Santana!" Rachel said, jumping up, and putting her hands on her hips. "You are a guest in this house and you will not use that kind of language here."

"Yes, I'm a guest that's chained to the wall," Santana said, piercing her with a glare. "I think calling me a hostage is more accurate, don't you?"

"Fine, you're our—guestage," Rachel replied. "Either way, I would appreciate it if you would watch your language."

Quinn and Santana looked at each other and then simultaneously rolled their eyes. Rachel noticed, though, and looked between the two, glaring at both of them.

"Don't you two roll your eyes at me," Rachel chastised.

"Yes, mom," Quinn said, laughing as she avoided a smack from Rachel.

"Seriously, the TV," Santana said, pointing to the box.

"Will you hold on?" Quinn said, annoyed.

"If you let me go, I could do it myself," Santana pointedly said.

"Not happening," Quinn instantly replied. "Where do you want this, Rach?"

Rachel stepped back and took a look around the room. "I thought maybe we could put Santana's bed on the wall that she's chained on, put the television stand in the middle to section off the room, and then put the computer and bookshelves against the other wall."

"I don't think that works for me," Santana said, looking around the room.

Quinn sighed. "Too bad."

"Hey, I'm the one that has to live down here," Santana said, scowling. "Shouldn't I get more say in how the room is setup?"

"No," Quinn said, walking across the room, and grabbing the desk.

She carried the desk to the wall Rachel wanted it against and then grabbed her computer from the corner and started setting it up. Rachel thought it would be a good idea to use the basement as their headquarters since they needed a place where they could do research when they needed to, and it was hard to explain why they came in and out of the training room when school was out. Plus, Quinn would be able to keep an eye on Santana and Rachel would be able to cover for them if her father ever came downstairs and saw the other girl. Quinn didn't know how Rachel would explain the fact that Santana was chained up, but she was confident the girl would be able to come up with something.

"Okay, what next?" Quinn asked once the computer was hooked up.

"The TV," Santana answered.

"Just hook up the television," Rachel answered.

Quinn sighed, but did as she was told. "I don't understand why we had to get such a large TV."

"Because you have me chained to a wall; what else am I going to do all day?" Santana asked. "It's really the least you could do for me."

"She has a point, you know," Rachel said, looking at her.

"Why are you on her side?" Quinn asked, annoyed.

"I'm not on anyone's side," Rachel replied. "I'm simply saying she has a point."

"Actually, I think that means you're on my side," Santana said, smirking.

Quinn rolled her eyes, but ignored Santana and went about hooking the TV up; she didn't know why the vampire was so intent on getting it setup, though, since they didn't even have cable in the basement. All she had was Rachel's DVD collection, which mostly consisted of musicals and romantic comedies, both of which Santana claimed to hate. Although, Quinn knew that Santana secretly loved both and she would never admit it, but she had drug both Quinn and Brittany to see Hairspray three times when it was in theaters.

"Is Brittany coming by later?" Rachel asked, looking up from where she was alphabetizing the books that were going to be put on the shelves.

"She said she would be," Quinn answered.

"Can we have a movie night?" Santana asked, perking up.

Quinn looked at the vampire curiously; she was certainly acting like the Santana she knew, but she was afraid it was just that—an act. She didn't believe that Santana would be a good vampire just because she promised Brittany. The girl no longer had a soul; she didn't have a conscious to make her feel guilty if she did anything bad.

"Sure," Rachel answered when Quinn didn't.

"I can't," Quinn said, turning the television on to make sure it worked, and then throwing the remote control onto Santana's lap. "I have to patrol tonight."

"You were a lot more fun before this Slayer shit," Santana said, glaring at her.

"And you were a lot more fun before you started threatening to eat people," Quinn countered.

"I only did that a few times," Santana said, huffing. "Besides, I said I was sorry."

"Uh huh," Quinn said, unconvinced.

"I guess it will just be the three of us," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn looked up, realizing that Rachel and Brittany were going to be alone with Santana. "You know, on second thought, maybe I will skip patrol."

* * *

><p>"I don't know why I had to come with you tonight," Rachel said, shutting the door to Quinn's car. "I really needed to get some of my homework done or I'll get behind."<p>

"It's Monday, you have all week to read, and I told you, I want the company," Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "Don't lie to me."

"Who said I'm lying?" Quinn asked.

"Admit it—you don't want me there alone with Santana," Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't think I can take care of myself."

"I think you can take care of yourself just fine," Quinn replied, stopping in her tracks, and pulling Rachel back toward her. "Listen, I just—I don't trust her, okay? I hate that she's in the basement; I check on you and her nearly every hour at night because I'm afraid she'll break the chains and do what she promised to do. I don't get how you can be so okay with her."

"I'm not," Rachel replied, running her hand along Quinn's arm. "I'm trying to be, though, for Brittany. I don't know whether or not Santana is sincere, but I don't want Brittany to think I doubt her, so until I see evidence to the contrary, I will continue to give Santana a second chance. Besides, she hasn't actually done anything, so maybe she's still just all talk. She always used to say she was going to beat me up or punch me in the face if I said another word to her, but she never actually did any of that."

"But she's evil now," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel sighed. "I haven't forgotten what she is, Quinn; I'm simply trying to give her a chance. Brittany still loves her and I actually think Santana still loves Brittany."

"Can vampires even love? They don't have a soul," Quinn asked.

"From the research I've done, I think they can," Rachel replied. "I've read numerous accounts of vampire couples that have stayed together for centuries and I even read about one vampire that stayed with her human husband until he died from old age. I don't think they lose the capacity to love just because they lose their soul."

"So, you really believe that Santana is still in love with Brittany?" Quinn asked.

"I do," Rachel replied. "You know her better than I do, though; do _you_ think Santana is still in love with Brittany?"

Quinn shrugged. "I don't know. I want to believe it because that would mean she's still—"

"Santana," Rachel finished.

Quinn nodded. "She's always been good at lying, though. Well, she was good at lying to everyone but Brittany, so I guess everything depends on whether or not she still can't lie to her. For all our sakes, I hope she can't."

"You know, you really don't have to check on me," Rachel said as she started walking again.

"Yes, I do," Quinn replied.

"You don't always have to protect me," Rachel said, nudging the blonde.

"Yes, I do," Quinn repeated.

"I'll be okay, you know?" Rachel said, stopping in front of Quinn. "I'm not stupid; I know Santana will probably come after me the moment she's free, but I'm prepared for that; I sleep with a cross and a stake under my pillow just in case. Besides, those five locks you put on the basement door should hold her, so I don't know what you're worried about. Oh, by the way, Daddy finally saw them this morning."

"What did he say?" Quinn wondered.

"He said it was weird, but then he walked away," Rachel said, shrugging. "He also told me this morning that he took some time off work and he's leaving tomorrow to stay with his sister for a few weeks."

"Oh?" Quinn said, surprised.

"He didn't say why or anything," Rachel said, sighing. "He did instruct us to be good and he left some money for food."

In the time she had been at the Berry house, she had only seen Leroy leave to go to work and to visit his husband's grave. After their initial meeting, she had really never spoken to him again except for the odd 'hello' in the morning. She knew he wasn't getting better and that Rachel was worried more than she would admit. Maybe going away would do him some good; Quinn really hoped it would, so Rachel could get her father back.

"Hopefully a little vacation will help him," Rachel said as she watched a woman walk toward them. "Why would anyone in this town be out at night and completely alone?"

Quinn looked over her shoulder. "We should probably follow her and make sure she gets home okay."

"Good idea," Rachel whispered.

The woman walked past them and Quinn waited several seconds before tugging on Rachel's arm; they had only taken a few steps when the woman just vanished in front of them. Quinn ran over to the spot the woman had been standing and saw nothing.

"What the hell was that?" Quinn asked, looking back at Rachel. "She just disappeared!"

Rachel shook her head and walked over to Quinn. "Is there anything there?"

"Nothing," Quinn said, still looking around. "No blood, no marks, just—nothing."

"I guess that means I need to go home and start doing research," Rachel said, sighing. "Why does it seem like every week there's something new? Why can't it always be vampires; we know what to do with those."

"Just lucky, I guess," Quinn replied, shrugging.

* * *

><p>"Brittany, what are you doing out here?" Rachel asked as soon as she saw the blonde sitting on the front step, outside her house.<p>

"Quinn made me promise I wouldn't be in the house without her," Brittany said shrugging. "I didn't know when you be back home and Quinn didn't answer her phone, so I thought I'd just wait."

"Come on," Rachel said, extending her hands to help Brittany up.

"I'm really glad you're back," Brittany said, shivering a bit.

"Why didn't you wear your coat?" Rachel asked, looking at her in concern.

"I forgot it at Santana's house," Brittany answered.

"So, why don't you go there and get it?" Rachel softly asked.

Brittany frowned. "I'm afraid to. I don't want to see Santana's mom sad because I'll want to tell her that San is still around, but I can't because it's a secret."

"How about I go over there tomorrow and get it for you," Quinn offered.

"Will you?" Brittany asked. "Because it's getting really cold and my mom won't buy me a new one because she says I'll just lose it again."

"I'll go over there before school," Quinn said, nodding. "But you have to start being more careful."

"I promise I won't forget it again," Brittany replied.

"I don't mean about the coat," Quinn replied. "You shouldn't be out at night, especially not alone; someone could hurt you."

"Oh, okay," Brittany said, looking around.

"Come on, let's get you inside," Rachel said, helping the blonde up, and wrapping her arm around her shoulders.

Quinn followed Rachel and Brittany into the house. When they got inside, Rachel went into the kitchen to make some hot cocoa for Brittany while Quinn walked to the basement door and unlocked the five locks that were securing it. The other blonde was right on her heals as she walked down the steps. Santana cocked her eyebrow when she spotted her, but then smiled as soon as she saw who was behind her.

"That was quick," Santana said, turning to Quinn.

"Change of plans," the blonde answered.

"Did a vampire kick your ass and you had to come back to lick your wounds?" Santana asked, smirking.

"San," Brittany admonished.

"What?" Santana asked, pouting. "I can't mock her at all now? There is only so much I will agree to and that is not one of those things."

"You need to be nice," Brittany stated.

"I've never been nice," Santana pointed out.

"It's okay, B," Quinn said, patting her friend's back.

Quinn heard the door close, followed by Rachel's footsteps coming down the stairs. The brunette handed a mug to Brittany and then smiled and handed the other one to Quinn.

"I thought you might enjoy some as well," Rachel said as Quinn took the hot cocoa from her.

Quinn smiled. "Thanks."

Santana rolled her eyes. "When are you two going to stop flirting and get on with it? And where's mine?"

"I wasn't aware vampires ate and drank regular food," Rachel said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Well, we do," Santana replied.

"How would you know?" Quinn asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"Because that smells really good and I want some," Santana said, smirking at her.

"I'll share," Brittany said, walking over to Santana's bed, and sitting down next to her.

Quinn couldn't be sure, but she almost thought Santana recoiled slightly when Brittany sat down. A moment later, she was smiling at her, though, so Quinn shrugged and turned away.

"So, why _are_ you back so early?" Santana asked.

"We saw a woman disappear," Rachel replied, heading over to the computer, and shaking the mouse to wake it up.

"What do you mean disappear?" Santana asked.

"She means she vanished into thin air," Quinn answered. "As in she was there one second and the next poof—she was just gone."

"What do we do now?" Brittany asked.

"We?" Quinn asked, frowning.

"I want to help," Brittany said, handing the mug to Santana, and standing up. "What can I do?"

"You can help me," Rachel suggested. "You can go through the books on the shelf and look for anything that sounds similar while I look on the internet."

Brittany smiled. "Okay."

"Here," Rachel said, grabbing a book from the shelf, and throwing it to Quinn. "You can help too." Rachel grabbed another and threw it beside Santana. "And you."

"Hey, I didn't agree to no research," Santana said, throwing the book back, and nearly hitting Rachel in the face with it.

"Too bad," Rachel said, tossing it back, and crossing her arms.

"You'll never win against her," Quinn said, sitting down in Brittany's vacated seat.

Santana sighed. "Fine."

Rachel smirked and sat down at the computer while Brittany laid down in the floor, on her stomach, with her legs swinging in the air. Quinn smiled softly and watched the brunette for a moment before finally opening the book in her lap.

"You are so pathetic," Santana whispered.

"Excuse me?" Quinn asked, turning her head to look at the vampire.

"You want Berry, but you won't do anything about it except stare at her all googly–eyed," Santana replied.

"I do not get googly-eyes," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"Do too," Santana countered.

"Do not," Quinn replied.

"Seriously, Q, when are you going to grow some balls and ask her out," Santana asked.

"Okay, first—eww," Quinn said, scrunching up her face. "Second—it's more complicated than that. Third—why the hell am I talking about this with you?"

"You're only saying that because you're too damn scared to make a move," Santana said, smirking.

Quinn huffed. "Shut up and read your book."

* * *

><p>"Are you okay, Brittany?" Rachel asked, staring at the blonde across the table.<p>

Brittany shrugged and continued picking at her food, but didn't respond further.

"Is there anything you would like to talk about?" Rachel asked.

Brittany sighed. "I miss Santana."

"You just saw her this morning," Quinn said, looking from Rachel to Brittany.

"No, I don't mean like that," Brittany replied. "I mean that she's there, but she isn't there. Does that make any sense?"

"What exactly do you mean?" Rachel quietly asked.

"Santana isn't acting like herself," Brittany explained. "She is sometimes but not all the time. Anytime I try to kiss her or touch her, she pulls away. She says she loves me, but then she does that and I don't know what to think. I tried asking her, but she said she didn't know what I was talking about, but she was lying to me. I miss her; I miss being able to kiss her or cuddle with her in bed. It makes me sad when she's right in front of me, but still too far away."

"She's probably still just adjusting," Rachel guessed. "It can't be easy for her; her whole life has changed."

"I know, but I don't get why she won't talk about it," Brittany replied. "She used to tell me everything."

"Give her time," Quinn said, reaching over to pat her friend's hand.

"I'm trying, but it's hard," Brittany said, frowning.

"What's up, guys?"

Quinn scowled as she looked up and saw Finn Hudson standing beside their table. She scowled even more when she noticed Puck standing beside him. They both had their trays of food—Puck had two—and Finn was smiling at Rachel, making Quinn want to wipe the smile off his face.

"Hello Finn, Noah," Rachel said, nodding to each of them.

"I was wondering if we could sit here," Finn said, nodding to the empty seat beside Rachel.

"I—guess," Rachel said, frowning in confusion.

Quinn huffed. "What do you two want?"

"Relax," Puck said, walking around the table and sitting next to Brittany, directly in front of Quinn.

Quinn saw Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes approaching the table and all three had matching looks of confusion, although Kurt was also smirking slightly.

"No, seriously, what do you two want?" Quinn asked again as the three Glee members joined them.

"I figured we're all in Glee now, so we should all sit together," Finn replied.

Quinn was not convinced. "Well, if I remember correctly, you've been in Glee all year; what changed? And last time I checked, Puck isn't in Glee."

"We're friends," Finn said, shrugging. "And I just thought it was time that the club comes together; Sectionals are coming up and we need to be an adhesive unit."

"I think you mean cohesive," Quinn corrected, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, a cohesive unit," Finn replied.

"I bet," Quinn mumbled.

"It's okay," Rachel whispered to her.

"So, what the hell are you doing here?" Quinn asked Puck.

Puck shrugged and Quinn looked at him curiously. She noticed he had been a lot more subdued over the last week or two and she didn't really know what to make of it. Puck was always larger than life, but now he was sort of quiet and broody. Quinn looked around for a moment, but everyone else seemed to be distracted, so she extended her leg and kicked Puck in the shin.

"What the hell?" Puck said, reaching down, and rubbing his leg.

"What's wrong with you?" Quinn asked.

Puck scoffed. "What's wrong with me? You're the one who kicked me—and since when the hell did you learn to kick so hard? I know Sylvester makes you guys work out but damn."

"I'm serious," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I miss, Santana, okay?" Puck said, shrugging. "I feel like it's my fault she's dead."

Quinn frowned. "What?"

Puck leaned forward and whispered, "I knew how Santana felt about—" He paused, glanced at the blonde beside of him, and nodded toward her. "Santana left because they were fighting and then she went and got herself killed. If I hadn't been such an ass and trying to get into her pants then she would still be here."

Quinn had never seen Puck so serious or remorseful about anything before. Usually he only spoke to her when he was trying to get her in his bed; it always annoyed her, but she would rather have him acting like that than blaming himself for something he had no control over.

"It's not your fault," Quinn softly said.

Puck shrugged and then bit into his hamburger. "Maybe, maybe not."

Quinn glanced to her left and noticed Finn and Rachel talking; the boy had his body turned toward the brunette and was way too close for Quinn's comfort. The blonde narrowed his eyes at him and then turned back to Puck.

"What the hell is he really doing here?" she asked, her voice low but deadly.

"What do you think?" Puck asked, smirking, and looking much more like his old self.

"Puck!" Quinn said through gritted teeth.

"What? It's obvious what he wants," Puck said, waggling his eyebrows.

Quinn looked at Finn and Rachel again and scowled. The brunette didn't seem particularly engaged in the conversation, which made her feel a little better, but she still wanted to drag Finn far away from the other girl. Quinn sighed and looked down the table, looking eyes with Kurt, who smiled at her.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked and Quinn jumped slightly.

"I'm fine," Quinn lied.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

Quinn plastered a smile on her face. "Positive."

As soon as the brunette turned away, Quinn wiped the smile off her face and scowled again.

"What's wrong with you?" Puck asked, staring at her.

"Nothing," Quinn instantly replied.

"Then why do you look like you want to rip someone's balls off?" Puck asked.

"If you don't stop talking, you'll be my target," Quinn said, effectively shutting him up.

* * *

><p>Quinn was pacing around the room while Rachel typed away on the computer. Santana was on the bed, watching Quinn's every move, with her eyebrow cocked. Quinn didn't know why she was looking at her like that and she wasn't going to ask; if she did, the vampire would know it was bothering her and she didn't want her to know that the other girl was getting to her.<p>

"Can you stop that?" Santana asked.

"No," Quinn said, still pacing.

Santana tried to get off the bed and pulled at the chains, trying to reach Quinn, but she was just out of her reach. "Dammit!"

"Language," Rachel said, not bothering to look up from the computer monitor.

Santana was mocking Rachel behind her back and Quinn smacked her upside the head. "Ow!" Santana rubbed at the back of her head and glared at the blonde. "What the hell was that for?"

"Don't make me repeat myself," Rachel said from across the room.

"She's hitting me," Santana said, pointing at Quinn.

"Quinn, don't hit Santana," Rachel commanded.

Quinn narrowed her eyes at the vampire, who started smirking at her. She then huffed and went back to her earlier pacing, causing Santana to groan.

"Okay, seriously, you're killing me with that," Santana said.

"You're already dead," Quinn pointed out.

Santana huffed. "It's a figure of speech, and if you would just hand me the remote, I wouldn't care what you were doing, and we wouldn't have this problem."

"Not happening," Quinn replied.

"Why not?" Santana asked.

"Because I've now seen Mamma Mia more times than I ever wanted to," Quinn replied. "You just keep watching it over and over; I'm pretty sure you're doing it just to torture me."

"Well, if you would sneak into my house and bring back some of my movies then maybe I wouldn't have to watch Rachel's musicals on repeat," Santana replied. "We broke into your house, why can't you break into mine?"

"Don't you think your parents will notice if your stuff suddenly goes missing," Quinn asked, rolling her eyes. "I'm not breaking into your parents' house."

"Then buy me some," Santana said, shrugging.

"With what money?" Quinn asked. "In case you didn't notice, I left my parents and they're the ones that supplied the money. This whole Slaying thing doesn't exactly pay. I wouldn't even be able to drive my car if the Watcher's Council didn't reimburse for gas and insurance."

"There's a Watcher's Council?" Santana asked, tilting her head to the side, and intently looking at Quinn. "Okay, Q, what's wrong with you? And don't give me that shit and say you're fine, because you have had a stick up your ass for a while now."

Quinn sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm angry."

Santana laughed loudly. "No shit."

Rachel turned around and gave her a disapproving look. Santana smiled innocently for a second and then mouthed 'sorry', so Rachel would turn back around.

"What are you angry about?" Santana asked.

"Everything," Quinn replied. "My life, the slaying, my parents, you, Finn Hudson."

Santana frowned at the last one. "What does Finnocence have to do with anything?"

"He's after Rachel," Quinn replied, crossing her arms.

"So, that's what this is all about," Santana said, smirking. "You're afraid Jolly Green is going to steal her away from you."

"He can't exactly steal her away from me," Quinn noted. "She isn't exactly mine."

"No, but you want her to be; any idiot can see that," Santana replied. "As for the rest, there isn't much you can do about the slaying—you're stuck with it, your parents can burn in hell for all I care, and there isn't really anything you can do about me either, unless you want to put a stake through my heart. Finn—you can do something about him, though. Quit being such a pussy and tell her how you feel, and if that doesn't work, punch Finnept in the face."

"Hypothetically—if I asked Finn to meet me in a cemetery in the middle of the night, I wouldn't be responsible for what happens to him, right?" Quinn asked, looking over at Santana.

The vampire smirked. "I won't tell anyone."

"There have been several more disappearances lately," Rachel suddenly said.

"What?" Quinn asked, getting up from the bed, and walking over to Rachel.

"Yesterday a woman went out to walk her dog and never came home, but the dog did; her husband called and reported it," Rachel said. "There have been several others like it; people go out and then never return."

"Why are we just now hearing about it?" Quinn asked, looking to Rachel.

"The newspapers just started reporting it this morning," Rachel said, shrugging. "Maybe the police have been keeping it under wraps for some reason."

"How many people are missing?" Quinn asked.

"Three that have been reported," Rachel replied. "So, four that we know of; I haven't seen anything about the woman from the other night."

Quinn sighed and rubbed her temples. "Any luck on finding what could be the cause of it?"

Rachel shook her head. "I have a few options, but I don't think it's any of them. I'll keep looking, though, so don't worry, we'll find out what's doing this and you'll stop it."

"You sound awfully confident," Quinn said, glancing at the brunette.

Rachel shrugged. "You haven't failed yet."

"You mean _we_ haven't failed yet," Quinn corrected.

Rachel shook her head. "The only thing I do is surf the internet."

"You do a lot more than that," Quinn quietly said.

Rachel looked up at Quinn and softly smiled.

"Will you give me the remote if I promise not to watch a musical!?" Santana asked, yelling across the room.

* * *

><p>"I think I found something," Brittany said, looking back at Quinn.<p>

"Really?" Quinn asked, jumping up.

"Here," Brittany said, handing Rachel the book.

"What's it say?" Quinn asked, trying to look over Rachel's shoulder.

"Hold on," Rachel said, moving away, and causing Quinn to roll her eyes and huff. "That's not going to make me read any faster, you know."

Quinn shook her head, but remained silent; when she looked back, Santana made a whipping motion. Quinn pointed at the vampire and mouthed 'pot' before pointing at herself and mouthing 'kettle'. Santana glared at her, but then looked at Brittany before looking back to Quinn and shrugging.

"This could be it," Rachel finally said. "Good job, Brittany.

Brittany beamed and clapped her hands together. "Awesome."

"It's a shadow creature," Rachel stated. "The reason there was nothing left behind is because they pull their victims into the shadows and they leave no trace behind. They need eight victims and only come out once every decade; they also only come out at night because light hurts them. I think we can save the people who have disappeared, though. It doesn't actually kill them; it waits until it has all eight victims and then somehow created another shadow creature using the people's essence. It's essentially how they reproduce. Until then, they're in another realm, but if the shadow creature dies, they'll be released."

"How do I fight it?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said, frowning. "I don't think it has a corporeal body; it doesn't sound like it's in the shadows, it sounds like it _is_ the shadows."

"You know, someone should really write those books a little better," Quinn said, frowning. "They're always too vague; they should just say 'hey, here's your demon and here's exactly how to kill it' instead of being all cryptic."

"I'm actually working on setting up my own database that does that," Rachel said, smiling.

"Really?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "I've tentatively titled it Demons, Demons, Demons."

"Of course you did," Quinn deadpanned.

"I think it's a cool name," Brittany said, smiling at Rachel.

"Thank you, Brittany," Rachel said, smiling back at the blonde.

"Yeah, me too," Santana said, smirking at Quinn.

"You know, I think I liked it better before you two came around," Quinn said, putting her hands on her hips. "At least I wasn't outnumbered then."

Rachel laughed. "I'm going to get something to drink; does anyone else want anything?"

The two blondes shook their head, but Santana asked, "Can you heat me up some blood?"

Rachel scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Do I have to?"

"It's gross enough that you're making me drink pig's blood; the least you can do is heat it up for me," Santana said, raising her eyebrow.

"I can do it," Quinn offered.

"No—I will," Rachel said, sighing.

Quinn watched as Rachel walked to the small refrigerator and grabbed a container of blood. She held it out like it was a bomb that was about to explode and Quinn had to stifle a laugh; she didn't do a good enough job, though, and Rachel gave her a dirty look.

"When are you two finally going to go out?" Brittany asked as soon as Rachel was up the stairs and out of earshot.

"What?" Quinn asked.

"You and Rach like each other; why aren't you going out?" Brittany asked.

Quinn sighed. "It's—"

"Stop saying complicated," Santana interrupted.

"Well, it is," Quinn said, huffing.

"What's so complicated?" Brittany asked. "You like her and she likes you."

"Because there are a lot of things out there that want to hurt me," Quinn explained. "And if they know what she means to me, they'll hurt her to get at me."

"Like they did San?" Brittany asked.

"Yes, B, like that," Quinn replied, looking at Santana, and sighing.

"But won't they want to hurt her anyway?" Brittany asked. "You live with her, so they'll know you're friends. Bad things are always going to happen; you can't not live because of it."

Quinn smiled; sometimes Brittany was a lot smarter than people gave her credit for

The door opened and Rachel walked down the stairs with a mug full of blood in her outstretched hand. "This is so disgusting; is there any way for a vampire to be vegan?"

Quinn laughed at Rachel's question. "I don't think so."

Rachel sighed as she handed the mug to Santana. "Too bad."

* * *

><p>Quinn watched from the basement as the sun got lower on the horizon; she wasn't sure how to kill the shadow creature, but she was going to try. Two large flashlights were sitting on the table and Rachel was still doing everything she could to find out any more information about the creature. Brittany and Santana were on the bed with books scattered all around them; the vampire seemed less thrilled about helping than Brittany did, but she was doing her part nonetheless. Quinn gave up doing research hours ago, and instead had the Watcher's diary of a man names Charles Dawson sitting in her lap.<p>

Ever since she found out Shelby Corcoran was a Slayer, she poured over the Watcher's dairies hoping to figure out any information about the former Slayer and current vampire. She seemed like a fairly typical Slayer; she was called in 1989 at age sixteen, stopped several apocalypses from happening, but then in May of 1994 she just disappeared. Her Watcher looked for her for months, as did several members of the Council, but they were unable to find her. Then, in early January, a new Slayer was called, so they gave up the search for Shelby. No one ever figured out where she was in the eight months before her death and no body was ever recovered; now they knew why no one ever found a body, though.

"Is it almost time?" Rachel asked.

"Soon," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed. "I just wish we would find something else."

"I know," Quinn replied, still staring out the window. "But no one ever said this slaying thing was going to be easy."

"Yes, but the Watcher's Council should at least give you better resources," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Why don't _they_ have a database of all the demons? Their methods are outdated; they depend too much on books and journals. They need to come into this century and put everything on the computer to make it easier for the rest of us."

"This would be a lot easier with control-F," Brittany said, nodding.

"This would be easier if this book was in English," Santana said, throwing one of the books onto the floor.

"Be careful with that," Rachel said, scowling. "I borrowed these from Coach Sylvester and I would rather not get yelled at for destroying her property."

"Tell her it wasn't you," Santana said, shrugging.

"And who would I tell her did it?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Santana smirked. "I'm sure you could think of something."

"We should get ready," Quinn said, interrupting their bickering.

Rachel nodded and shot Santana one last glare before she walked upstairs.

"Hey, can I come with you and Rach?" Brittany asked.

"No!" Santana and Quinn simultaneously said.

Brittany started pouting. "Why not?"

"Because it's dangerous," Quinn answered.

"But Rachel goes," Brittany pointed out.

"No one cares if Berry dies," Santana replied; Quinn scowled at Santana and Brittany frowned at her, clearly disappointed. "What? It was a joke."

"Well, can you quit 'joking' like that?" Quinn said, using air quotes.

"Are you two fighting?" Rachel asked, skipping down the stairs.

"Whoa," Santana said, looking at Rachel with her eyebrow raised.

"What?" Rachel asked, looking down at herself.

"I've never seen you dressed like a normal person," Santana said, looking Rachel up and down.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Just because I choose not to wear jeans to school, it doesn't mean I'm not normal. I simply want to look my best; you never know when you might meet someone important."

"My brain doesn't know how to handle the lack of plaid and argyle," Santana said, shaking her head.

"Ignore her," Quinn said, looking at Rachel.

Quinn had always made fun of Rachel for her style sense, but she actually liked the way the brunette dressed. Of course she also like her as she was now—wearing a pair of snug fitting jeans and a dark purple t-shirt—but she didn't think there was anything wrong with her regular clothes, either.

"You ready?" Quinn asked, grabbing her duffle bag and throwing the flashlights inside.

"When you are," Rachel said, smiling at her.

Quinn headed toward the stairs with Rachel right behind her. She paused at the top, though, and looked down at Brittany and Santana.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked.

She was hesitant to leave Brittany alone with Santana, but the vampire was chained up and she knew the blonde wouldn't leave without an argument.

Quinn shook her head. "Nothing."

The two walked to Quinn's car and she drove to the cemetery the woman had disappeared in front of. Quinn didn't know if the thing would still be there, but she didn't have anything else to go on. When she pulled into the parking spot along the sidewalk, Rachel reached into the back of the car and grabbed her bag. She pulled out two flashlights, checked to make sure both were working, and handed one to Quinn

"Do you have a plan?" Rachel asked.

"Nope," Quinn replied.

Rachel laughed. "Good plan."

"I thought so," Quinn said, glancing sideways at her, and smiling.

They stepped into the night air and Quinn took a deep breath. It was early November and the air was turning much colder; Quinn used to love the wintertime, but she was growing to hate it. Being out all night, in the cold made patrolling even worse than it already was, and having to wear a coat made the fighting more difficult.

"Do you think we should check the spot again?" Rachel asked, pointing her flashlight down the sidewalk.

Quinn shrugged. "It can't hurt."

Quinn walked forward and Rachel stuck closely behind her. The blonde was shining her flashlight around when she thought she saw some sort of movement out of the corner of her eye and paused, causing Rachel to run into her.

"What is it?" Rachel asked, looking in the direction that Quinn was looking.

"I don't know," Quinn said, looking around. "I thought I saw something." Quinn was getting a tingling sensation and the hairs were standing up on the back of her neck. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel wh—"

Quinn whipped around and found nothing but a flashlight on the ground.

Rachel was gone.

"Rach?" Quinn yelled, frantically looking around. "Rachel!"

She rubbed her hand over her face; she knew the brunette would never play a joke on her like this. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she thought she was going to be sick.

Quinn reached down to pick up Rachel's flashlight; she tried to turn it on, but it was cracked and no longer worked. As she was fiddling with it, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye again and immediately pointed her light at it. The shadows seemed to slowly retreat from the beam of light the longer she had it pointed in one spot.

The tingling sensation started again and Quinn looked around; the shadows seemed to be reaching out for her, so Quinn moved the flashlight, pointing it toward those nearest her. The flashlight flickered and Quinn thought it was going to go out; before she knew what happened, though, it flew from her hand and landed in the street.

* * *

><p>"Are you okay?" Brittany was watching Santana and frowning.<p>

"Why wouldn't I be?" Santana asked, doing her best to smile at the blonde.

Brittany reached out and gently cupped her face; Santana could hear the blonde's heartbeat speed up and she knew exactly what the other girl wanted. It's what she wanted too, but she couldn't let it happen. Not now—not when she was like this. Brittany deserved to be happy—she deserved the best of everything and that would never be her. She couldn't even take the other girl outside anymore. What kind of life could they have when she was like this?

"San—"

Brittany jumped when the door flew open and Quinn came running down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Brittany asked, immediately jumping off the bed, and walking over to the other blonde.

"It took Rachel," Quinn said, frantically looking around. "What the hell did Rachel do with the other flashlights?"

"Quinn, calm down," Brittany said, putting a hand on Quinn's back, but she shrugged her off and moved away. "What happened?"

"I told you!" Quinn yelled.

"Hey!" Santana yelled back. "This isn't Britt's fault; she's just trying to help, so stop fucking yelling at her!"

"If I don't get Rachel back, she's going to turn into one of those things!" Quinn yelled, tears forming in her eyes.

"We'll get her," Brittany said, trying to wrap Quinn into a hug.

Santana watched as Quinn started completely falling apart in front of her. Part of her wanted to smirk and make some sarcastic remark, but then she looked at Brittany. Brittany looked so helpless as she tried calming her friend down and Santana sighed; Rachel was annoying, but she was going to have to help Quinn get her back. She should have known the blonde wouldn't be able to do it without her; she honestly had no idea how she had lasted this long. If all Slayers were like this, no wonder they had such a short lifespan.

"Let me go," Santana said, holding her wrists out.

"Excuse me?" Quinn said, wiping her eyes.

"Let me help you," Santana said.

Quinn laughed. "Nice try."

Santana glared at the blonde and was seriously thinking about taking back her offer. "I'm serious; unchain me and I'll help you get Berry back."

"I'm not letting you go," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Santana asked. "You need someone to help you get your little girlfriend back."

"I don't need _your_ help," Quinn yelled.

"Quinn—"

"No, Brittany," Quinn said, backing away as she shook her head. "I know you trust her, but I don't. She probably thinks this is the perfect chance. She'll just promise to help me and then what—we go off alone and you attack me while I'm distracted?" Quinn was looking at Santana with bloodshot eyes. "You hate Rachel—you always have; do you really think I would believe that you want to help her now?"

"Top shelf of the bookcase," Santana said in a monotone voice.

"What?" Quinn asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"The other flashlights," Santana said, looking away.

Quinn looked across the room and ran over to the shelf; the flashlights were exactly where Santana had said. She grabbed them and started walking toward the steps, but was stopped by Brittany.

"You shouldn't go out there alone," Brittany stated.

Quinn sighed and looked down, shaking her head. "I don't have a choice."

Santana looked over and watched as Quinn disappeared up the steps and slammed the door.

"I'm going after her," Brittany said, looking toward Santana.

"No, I will," Santana replied.

"How?" Brittany asked.

Santana grabbed each end of the chain into her hands and yanked, easily breaking the chain in half. Brittany was looking at her in alarm, but Santana just smirked at her. She walked over to the workbench, ignoring the look Brittany was giving her, and took a hammer to the shackles that were still around her wrists, quickly and easily removing them both.

"I'll be back," Santana said, turning around to the stunned blonde.

"Why didn't you do that before?" Brittany asked when she was halfway up the steps.

Santana walked back to the bottom and shrugged. "I didn't have a reason to."

* * *

><p>Santana ran down the street as fast as her legs would carry her; she knew what graveyard they had been at the previous night, so knowing her friend, that's where she had gone tonight. She passed by several people and they all stared at her as she ran by. She tried ignoring them, but every instinct in her body was telling her to turn around. She had made a promise to Brittany, though, and it was the only thing that kept her legs moving forward instead of turning around.<p>

When she rounded the corner, she skidded on some gravel, running so fast that she had a hard time stopping. Quinn was just stepping out of her car and Santana smirked knowing she could get there just as fast as her. She watched the Slayer for a moment as she shone her flashlight around an area with tall bushes. The blonde was so busy looking around that she didn't even look up until Santana was nearly upon her.

"Santana!" Quinn yelled the moment she saw her.

"Relax, Q," Santana said, smirking at her.

"What the hell—how did you get out?" Quinn asked.

"They don't make shackles like they used to," Santana said, holding up her wrists.

Quinn withdrew a stake from her back pocket and Santana threw her hands up. "I don't have time for this."

"Whoa, Q, I'm here to help," Santana said, trying to calm the other girl down.

"I swear to god, if you pull anything—"

"I won't," Santana replied, rolling her eyes. "You know, you really have some trust issues."

"Santana!" Quinn said, rounding on the vampire. "I have to get Rachel back; if I don't—" Quinn looked away and Santana knew she was probably crying again.

"Will you quit being such a little whiner?" Santana said, crossing her arms. "You're the Slayer, and more importantly than that, you're Quinn Fabray. What happened to the tough, bitchy, Cheerio captain that used to run McKinley?

Quinn laughed sardonically. "It's easy to be like that when you don't care about anyone."

"Now I know you're lying; you've always cared about B," Santana said, raising her eyebrow.

"But she was never in danger," Quinn replied.

"What I'm saying, Q, is to suck it up—be the Quinn Fabray I used to respect," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"When did you ever respect me?" Quinn asked, looking at her skeptically.

"Fine, never," Santana said, smirking, and shoving Quinn. "So, what do we know about this thing?"

Quinn sighed. "I think when it's close, I get this tingling feeling. Rachel disappeared without warning; she was midsentence, standing right behind me, and the next second, she was gone. There was nothing I could do; one second she was here and the next she wasn't. Oh, and I also think it made my flashlight flicker."

"So, if my flashlight flickers and I feel a tingling feeling, I get the hell out of here, and leave your ass to fight it?" Santana asked.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yeah."

Santana looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary; it was especially dark in the area since the nearest streetlight was out, but this was Lima, so that wasn't exactly strange for a town as crappy as this one.

"Don't lose this," Quinn said; Santana looked down and took the flashlight Quinn was holding out for her. "And I mean that; the thing made mine fly right out of my hand."

"It touched you?" Santana asked.

Quinn shook her head. "I didn't feel it; it just—the flashlight suddenly went flying."

"So, this thing really doesn't have a body to fight?" Santana asked.

"Not that I know of," Quinn said, leaning down, and touching the ground.

"What the hell are we doing out here, then?" Santana asked. "What's the point if we can't fight it? I mean—oh, tingling feeling."

Santana turned her flashlight on and quickly backed away from the spot. She pointed the light at the shadows and they seemed to swirl as they moved away from it.

"They retreat from the light," Santana stated.

"I know, Quinn replied.

"Do you see that thing there?" Santana asked. "It's sort of—" Santana's flashlight flew from her hand. "Shit!"

"I told you not to lose that!" Quinn yelled.

"How was I supposed to know it was going to do that!?" Santana yelled back.

"You realize we only have one light now, right," Quinn said, huffing.

Santana could tell the shadows were moving closer, so she jumped behind Quinn.

"You know, Rachel was right behind me when they got her," Quinn noted.

"I—give me your keys," Santana said, holding her in front of Quinn.

"What?" Quinn asked, pushing her hand away.

"Seriously, Q, give me your damn keys," Santana demanded, wiggling her fingers.

Quinn sighed, but reached into her front pocket, and slapped the keys into Santana's hand. Santana grabbed them and ran for Quinn's car; when she got to it, she flung the door open and jumped in, shoving the key in the ignition, and starting it up. She threw the car into drive and hit the gas so hard that the tires squealed. She drove toward the middle of the street and then whipped the car around, stopping only a few inches from hitting Quinn.

"What are you doing!?" Quinn yelled.

"Getting more light," Santana said, turning the high beams on.

Quinn shielded her face from the sudden light and Santana smirked; just because she'd promised Britt she wasn't going to kill anyone, it didn't mean she had to be nice.

She stepped out of the car and stood beside the blonde. "I think it's dying."

"Really?" Quinn asked. "Because I can't see anything right now."

Santana laughed, but jumped when a piercing shriek filled the air. The shadows were swirling rapidly and closing in on themselves; it was obvious this was the shadow creature since any normal shadow would have disappeared the instant the light hit it. This one was trying to back away from the light, but there was too much of it, and it couldn't seem to get away fast enough. When another shriek went through the air, Quinn and Santana both jumped back.

One by one, people started appearing out of thin air; Rachel was the last one and Quinn instantly ran over to her.

"Rach," Quinn said, reaching down to gently help the brunette up.

Santana stepped forward, but stopped as soon as she smelled the blood. She looked over and noticed one of the guys had a gash on his head that was bleeding rather badly.

"What's going on?" one of the other women asked.

"Do you guys not remember?" Quinn asked, looking at Rachel.

"I remember being behind you and then nothing—everything was black," Rachel replied.

"We need to get everyone out of here," Quinn said, looking back to Santana.

"I—you go," Santana said, glancing at the bleeding man.

"But—"

Santana started running as fast as she could. She didn't care what Quinn was going to say; she just needed to get out of there before she hurt someone and broke her promise to Brittany.

* * *

><p>Santana ran to Rachel's house, hoping the whole way there that Brittany had gone home. She needed to be away from people right now; it was already difficult enough, but the smell of blood was making her stomach churn and her vampire instincts were trying to kick in.<p>

She walked through the dark house and to the basement door, leaning her head against it. She could hear the television on and knew Brittany was still down there. Instead of turning around, though, she turned the knob, and walked down into the basement. As soon as the blonde saw her, she smiled softly, turned off the television, and walked over to Santana.

"Did you guys get Rachel back?" Brittany asked.

"She's safe," Santana answered.

"I knew you would?" Brittany said, lunging into Santana's arms.

"Where are Quinn and Rach?" Brittany asked as she pulled away.

"I think they were going to get everyone else home," Santana said, looking away.

"Oh," Brittany said, turning Santana's face toward her, and smiling.

Brittany slowly leaned in and gently placed her lips to Santana's; the brunette hesitated for moment before putting more pressure into it. She felt Brittany's hand slowly travelling up her arm. For a second she thought about pushing the other girl away, but she couldn't. This was Brittany and she couldn't see the look of hurt in her eyes.

The kisses were gentle at first as if Brittany was getting reacquainted with her, but after a few minutes, Santana felt her girlfriend's tongue softly brush her upper lip. Santana opened her mouth out of instinct and Brittany accepted the invitation. Their tongues caressed each other and Santana couldn't stop the moan that erupted from the back of her throat. Brittany smiled and pulled back a few inches, nipping at Santana's bottom lip as she did so.

Brittany put her hand on Santana's cheek and said, "You're so cold."

"I know," Santana whispered, swallowing thickly.

The blonde placed a chaste kiss to Santana's lips, moved her hands over the brunette's collarbone, and started unbutton the shirt she was wearing. Santana started to put her hands over the other girl's to stop her, but her hands paused before they reached their destination and fell limply by her side. She focused her eyes on the girl's blonde hair as the girl kissed her way down her torso, going farther with every button she undid. When she reached the top of Santana's jeans, she pulled back and looked up at her. Santana would have held her breath if she still needed to breathe; Brittany was looking at her in the way she always had. She didn't seem to care what she was and it almost made Santana shatter inside.

"Britt—"

Brittany quickly silenced Santana with a kiss and worked the shirt down the brunette's arms, letting the garment fall to the floor. They stared at each other for a moment before Brittany slowly walked around Santana, keeping their eyes locked on one other for as long as they could. Santana's breath hitched when she felt her girlfriend's mouth on the back of her neck and her hands worked to free her from the only other thing covering her torso. After a moment, though, Santana felt Brittany's hands glide the straps of her bra over her arms, letting it fall at her feet.

Santana couldn't take it anymore, so she whipped around and pulled Brittany to her, crashing their lips together. She threaded her hand through blonde hair and used her tongue to explore every inch of her girlfriend's mouth. Santana missed this. She missed that Brittany always tasted like fruit. She missed the feeling of their tongues dancing together. She missed everything.

She didn't know exactly when it started happening, but they were making their way toward the bed and she was pulling the blonde's shirt over her head before capturing the girl's lips again. She moved her hands from Brittany's waist, trailed them up her back, and quickly removed the blonde's bra. Before she knew it, the backs of Brittany's legs had collided with the bed and they went falling onto it.

Santana looked down at the other girl, tracing a finger along her jaw and down her neck. Brittany's heart was beating rapidly and it made Santana's eyes darken.

"Please," Brittany said, shifting under Santana's gaze.

Santana lowered her mouth to Brittany's nipple and slowly traced it with her tongue before putting her whole mouth over it and sucking lightly. She felt Brittany's hips jerk slightly, so she started sucking harder. Brittany moaned as Santana brought her right hand up and started tracing the other nipple with her index finger. The blonde was squirming, so Santana kissed her way to the middle of her chest and worked her way up, stopping just below her throat. She could hear the girl's blood rushing through her veins and licked her lips.

"San," Brittany breathlessly said.

Santana tore her eyes away from the blonde's neck and moved up so they were face to face. She looked down into her blue eyes, which were a shade darker than usual, and then slowly started working her hand down her body. Before it reached the top of Brittany's pants, though, the blonde leaned up, so she was resting on her elbows, and tore her own pants off, leaving her in noting but her panties.

Santana licked her lips as she looked down at her; when she didn't move, Brittany put her hand down near Santana's and unbuttoned the brunette's jeans. Santana lifted herself up slightly, allowing Brittany to slip them off of her, and then lowered herself back down. Keeping one hand where it was, Brittany moved her other up to Santana's face and ran her thumb along the brunette's lip. Santana couldn't help but smile and lightly kiss the other girl's thumb.

"I love you," Brittany whispered.

"I love you, too," Santana whispered back.

"Together," Brittany said and Santana nodded.

Santana traced her hand along her girlfriend's abs and into her underwear. As she moved her hand down, she had to suppress a moan at how wet the other girl was. A few moments later, though, she did moan when Brittany did the exact same thing and started slowly sliding her finger up and down her own wetness.

She lunged at her girlfriend's lips as she entered two fingers into her throbbing center, causing the blonde to arch up. Moments later, she felt Brittany enter two fingers into her and start moving them in and out to the same rhythm as her.

The closer Brittany got to the edge, the more Santana became aware of the blood just below the surface of the blonde's neck. She tried to look away, but she could see her neck pulsing with every beat of her heart. Santana couldn't help but lean forward and licked her way up her girlfriend's neck

"So—close—" Brittany panted out, gripping the sheets with her free hand.

Santana swallowed thickly as she felt her control slipping. She moved her fingers in and out of her girlfriend more quickly, going deeper, and harder. Brittany's heartbeat seemed to quicken even more and Santana found her mouth latching onto the other girl's neck, right where her heartbeat was the strongest. Brittany moaned as Santana sucked and the brunette found herself moaning as well.

"Don't stop," Brittany loudly said.

Santana was moving up and down and was so close, but her mind was too focused on what she really wanted. She felt it happening, but felt powerless to stop it. Her face transformed and she flicked her tongue out one last time before clamping down. The blood immediately rushed into her mouth and she started sucking lightly. Brittany stiffened beneath her, but never stopped moving her fingers, and a few moments later, Santana felt the orgasm begin to rip through her. She finally pried her mouth away from the blonde's neck and screamed as she came.

When Brittany's fingers stilled, Santana looked down to see her girlfriend wide-eyed, and what she did finally really hit her.

"Britt," Santana said, her face returning back to normal as the feeling of tears pricked at her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Brittany reached her hand up to her neck and then pulled it away to stare at the blood on it.

Santana quickly pulled her fingers out of the blonde, grabbed her clothes that were strewn across the floor, and ran for the door. She thought she heard the blonde call her name, but she ran as fast as she could and didn't look back.

* * *

><p><strong>Well…that was my first attempt at something like that, so now I'm going to be embarrassed and hide in a corner.<strong>

**Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated and keep the writer happy and motivated. **


	10. Dusted

**Holy crap…it's been a while. The plan was to have this chapter up before classes started, but then my mamaw died, I got behind, and I was unable to warn you that it might be a while between updates once school started back. Hopefully chapter eleven won't take quite as long, but this semester has been pretty hectic, so I make no guarantees. **

**CanadianPianoMan: Your question is answered in this chapter.**

**Jaely: First sex scene...I've avoided them like the plague before.**

**Shylocke: Your review made me laugh out loud...I am happy this fic completes you.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 – Dusted<strong>

"Are you sure you're okay?" Quinn asked, looking at Rachel in concern.

Rachel nodded. "I'm fine—some sleep probably wouldn't hurt, though."

It was late by the time they got everyone home and could go home themselves. No one really had any idea what was going on and they were very confused when their families told them they had been missing for up to several days. One man wanted to call the police, accusing Rachel and Quinn of doing something to his wife; they couldn't exactly tell the truth, so Quinn quickly made up a lie about finding the woman and then they got out as fast as possible. Rachel just hoped no one recognized either of them so the police wouldn't come knocking on their door, asking questions they couldn't answer.

When Rachel finally opened the door to her house and walked inside, she noticed the light above the kitchen table was on. She walked into the dining room and found Brittany with her head down on the table.

"Brittany," Rachel quietly said, gently shaking the other girl.

Brittany sighed and looked up. "You guys are back."

"Yeah," Rachel said, sitting down in one of the chairs. "What's going on? Did Santana never come back?"

As they drove back after dropping the last person off, Quinn filled her in on some of the details. Needless to say, she was surprised to hear that not only had Santana broke free from her chains, but that she had actually helped. Rachel really thought Santana was faking, and if she ever got loose, she would start killing people. She had really wanted to trust Brittany's judgment, but it was difficult to after hearing the things Santana said to her.

"She was here," Brittany replied.

"Where did she go?" Rachel asked, looking intently at the blonde.

She could tell something was wrong; the only time she had ever seen Brittany like this before was right after Santana died. Brittany looked sullen, which just wasn't like her. Quinn was hovering behind her and when she looked back at her, she had a slight frown on her face as if she was trying to figure out their friend's mood as well.

"Brittany, what happened?" Rachel softly asked.

Brittany looked at Quinn for a moment. "We—"

"Brittany!" Quinn said, quickly taking the few steps toward her, and turning her face to get a better look at her neck. "What the hell happened?"

"It's my fault," Brittany said, tears forming in her eyes.

Quinn scoffed and shook her head. "And she had me fooled; after today, I finally thought she was telling the truth. God, I should have known better. I should have stopped her the moment she showed up, but I let her fight right next to me. I should have staked her the moment she crawled out of the ground, but I wanted to hope I could somehow save her and now she's done this."

"Quinn, it wasn't her fault," Brittany replied.

"Like hell it wasn't!" Quinn yelled.

"Quinn—"

"No, Rachel," Quinn said, holding her hands up. "I'm going to find her and do what I should have done the moment she came back."

"Please, Quinn," Brittany begged, grabbing onto her arm. "It wasn't her fault; we were—I started it. I don't think she meant to hurt me. She stopped and when she saw what she did, she said she was sorry and ran away. I've never seen her look like that before; she looked scared and hurt. I know she didn't mean to do it, so please give her another chance."

"I have to go," Quinn said, pulling her arm away.

"Please!" Brittany yelled after her.

Rachel heard the front door slam and Brittany immediately started sobbing. She sighed and stood up, wrapping her arms around the other girl.

"You have to stop her," Brittany said.

"I don't know if I can," Rachel replied.

"Santana didn't mean to hurt me," Brittany stated.

"Hey," Rachel said, kneeling down beside the other girl. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?"

"Santana came back and—I don't know." Brittany sniffed, shrugging. "I kissed her and she finally didn't pull away from me, so I didn't stop. We were—"

"You were making love," Rachel said for her.

Brittany nodded. "I thought things were okay; she was kissing my neck and I thought she was going to leave a hickey or something, but then it hurt. You have to find her before Quinn does; I don't want San to die again and Quinn shouldn't have to do that to her best friend."

Rachel looked away for a moment before looking back at Brittany. "I'll see if I can find Santana before Quinn does, okay?"

"Okay," Brittany said, nodding vigorously.

"I can't promise anything, though," Rachel said, putting her hand on Brittany's arm. "I might not be able to get to her first and if that happens—"

"Just try," Brittany said, looking at her with pleading eyes.

Rachel nodded. "I have an idea where she might be and I don't think it's the first place Quinn will look for her. Make sure you stay here, okay? Lock the door behind me and promise you will not leave."

"I promise," Brittany replied.

"I'll see what I can do," Rachel said, standing up.

She sighed to herself as she walked toward the front door; she didn't know what she could possibly say to Quinn or Santana, but she couldn't stand seeing Brittany looking sad. So, she would try to do what she could even though all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. Brittany was right, though—Quinn shouldn't have to kill her best friend. Plus, Rachel believed Brittany when she said Santana didn't mean to do it. It probably just all became too much for the vampire and she gave in during a moment of weakness. If she could just get to Santana before Quinn did, maybe she could stop this from becoming an even bigger tragedy.

* * *

><p>Since Quinn had a car and Rachel didn't, the brunette was at a disadvantage; she walked as quickly as she could, nearly running a lot of the time, and eventually made it there. She didn't see Quinn's car parked anywhere, so either she hadn't come looking yet or she had already come and gone. She cautiously walked in with a stake firmly gripped in her hand; she wasn't only worried about Santana, but everything else that could be around.<p>

Santana seemed to immediately sense her presence and looked up the moment she started walking closer. Rachel started feeling a little nervous and unsure when she saw the look on the vampire's face, but she continued walking anyway.

"You know, you really should walk around graveyards at night," Santana said.

The vampire was sitting on the ground, right above where she was lowered into the ground. She was staring at her headstone as she picked up some small stones and flicked them at it.

"Yes, well, there are definitely places I would rather be right now," Rachel replied, watching Santana closely. "I've had a very long day and I would love to be in my warm bed, but plans change."

"What are you doing here?" Santana asked.

"I came to find you," Rachel answered.

"Well, you found me, now go away," Santana replied.

Rachel sighed. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," Santana replied.

"I promised Brittany I would try to find you," Rachel stated.

Santana nodded. "So, you saw what happened."

"We did," Rachel replied. "Quinn is also looking for you."

Rachel walked the rest of the way to Santana, not having realized she stopped the moment the vampire started talking to her. Santana was one of the few people that always slightly scared Rachel, but now she just terrified her. She tried to act like the vampire didn't, but that was mostly because she didn't want Quinn to worry about her so much or Brittany to think she didn't trust her.

"Q's coming to put a stake in my heart, isn't she?" Santana asked, but it sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Yes," Rachel answered.

"Why are you here and she isn't?" Santana asked.

Rachel sighed. "She doesn't know I'm out here; she stormed off after she realized what happened and Brittany begged me to do something about it. If you didn't notice, it's kind of hard to say no to her."

Santana actually smiled for a moment, but then shook her head and turned serious again. "I didn't mean to bite Britt."

"I know," Rachel replied. "I wouldn't be here if I thought you did."

Santana pulled her knees up to her chest. "Her heart was pounding and I could practically feel the blood rushing through her veins. Everything inside of me was saying to bite her and before I realized what I was doing, I felt my face change and it happened."

"Can I ask you a question?" Rachel asked and the brunette nodded. "Why haven't you attacked anyone before? You—no offense—but you don't have a soul; I don't really understand how Brittany still matters so much to you."

"And you think I do?" Santana asked. "I don't have a clue what the fuck is going on inside of me right now. Part of me wants to hurt everyone I see, but then there's something that's holding me back. I said all of that shit to you because I was mad and wanted to hurt Q, not because I was actually going to do any of it. Although, part of me kind of wants to."

"That's—a little frightening," Rachel said, shaking her head.

Santana smirked. "I am one scary bitch."

"I might have a theory for it, actually," Rachel said. "For why you're so torn and why you don't necessarily want to kill people. I might be completely wrong, but I think it has something to do with Brittany. Maybe you loved her so much when you were alive that you actually gave her part of your soul."

"Is that possible?" Santana asked.

"I'm not positive," Rachel said, shrugging. "I've read what I could find about it and I've read a few instances where a vampire's soul was restored to them, but the spells to do that have been either lost or in a language that no one understands anymore. But that means the soul can be moved, so, theoretically, it could be possible that a part of yours was transferred. This is complete speculation on my part, though." Rachel sighed and offered her hand to the vampire. "Will you come home? Brittany is worried about you."

"I can't," Santana said, shaking her head.

"The Santana Lopez I know doesn't run away from things," Rachel stated.

"Santana is dead, in case you didn't notice," Santana said, motioning to the headstone.

"You're right here," Rachel said, kneeling so she could be face to face with the vampire. "I may not know what is going on with you, but you've shown you can help and there's obviously still a part of you that's keeping you from being evil. You made a mistake today and it's terrible that you hurt Brittany, but the fact that you feel bad about it says a lot. So, let's go home so Brittany will stop worrying; I can try to calm Quinn down when she gets back so maybe she won't kill you."

"Like she could," Santana said, smirking again.

Rachel shook her head. "Are you going to come back?"

"I'll go back on one condition," Santana said, standing up.

Rachel stood up as well. "What's that?"

"You have to chain me up again," Santana replied. "And this time get chains that can actually hold me." Santana shook her head. "I can't hurt B again; I can't—I never want to see that look on her face again and know that I caused it."

Rachel nodded. "We can do that."

"Okay," Santana replied.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I just gave a pep talk to a vampire that's threatened to kill me on numerous occasions."

* * *

><p>Quinn sighed as she walked through the front door; she had looked everywhere for Santana—the school, her parents' house, Brittany's house, the graveyard—but she hadn't found her anywhere. She didn't even know how she felt about not finding her; she knew more now than ever that the vampire was a danger to them all, but she still didn't know if she could kill the vampire. She needed to protect Rachel and Brittany, though, and would do what she had to do to keep them out of harm's way.<p>

"Rachel?" Quinn hollered. "Brittany."

"I'm in the kitchen," Brittany yelled back.

Quinn walked into the room to find Brittany standing at the refrigerator, staring inside it. "Where's Rachel?"

"Downstairs," Brittany answered.

"What is she doing down there?" Quinn asked.

"She said she was going to chain San up," Brittany replied.

Quinn frowned for a moment and then clinched her jaw. "What?"

"She brought her back," Brittany said, lowering her voice.

"What?" Quinn repeated.

She didn't wait around for Brittany to answer; instead, she turned around and stormed to the basement door. She flung it open and nearly ran down the stairs; when she reached the bottom, she stopped in her tracks, looking between the two brunettes. Santana was not only handcuffed to the wall, but she also had ropes around her arms.

"Quinn, wait," Rachel said, stepping forward.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Quinn asked.

"Please, let's talk upstairs," Rachel said, glancing at Santana.

Quinn huffed and turned around, heading back up the stairs; she bypassed Brittany along the way and made a beeline for Rachel's room. Once inside, she crossed her arms and turned around to look at the other girl.

"Why did you go after her?" Quinn asked. "Don't you know how dangerous and stupid that was? She hurt Brittany, the only person she had ever cared about; do you actually think she wouldn't do the same to you?"

"She didn't," Rachel replied. "I went after Santana because Brittany begged me to and I didn't want to see her hurt again. Or you, for that matter. Santana made a mistake—admittedly a huge one—but she's sorry about it. You know she would never hurt Brittany; she simply lost control. It was her idea to be chained up again and it was the only way she would agree to come back."

Quinn sighed and backed up, sitting down in the chair in front of Rachel's vanity. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, taking a few steps toward Quinn.

"This wasn't supposed to be my life," Quinn said, shaking her head. "The three of us were supposed to rule McKinley—to be the girls every guy wanted to date every other girl wanted to be. My biggest worry was supposed to be whether or not I was going to become prom queen, not if putting a stake through my best friend's heart was the right thing to do."

"Quinn," Rachel quietly said, putting her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "You're doing the best you can."

"It's not enough," Quinn replied.

"You're only sixteen," Rachel said, kneeling down. "I know you're the Slayer, but there's only so much you can do or be expected to handle. Don't worry about Santana for now, okay? She's completely secure downstairs; I asked the man at the store and he assure me those ropes would hold just about anything."

"If she hurts you—"

"She won't," Rachel assured.

Quinn sighed and tiredly rubbed her eyes. "You should get some sleep."

"We should get some sleep," Rachel corrected.

They both turned when there was a light knock on the door; Brittany was peering in and said, "My mom is here to pick me up."

Rachel nodded and stood up, walking over to the other blonde. "Are you okay?"

Brittany smiled sadly. "I will be. Thank you for doing what you did."

"You're welcome," Rachel said as she became wrapped up in the other girl's arms. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Night, Rachel," Brittany said, releasing her. "Night, Quinn."

Quinn looked up, locking eyes with the other girl. "Goodnight."

She watched the blonde turn to leave and then listened to her footsteps going down the steps followed by the front door opening and closing. Quinn then looked at Rachel, who walked to the window; she assumed the brunette was making sure Brittany safely got to the car even if it was only a few yards between the house and the driveway.

"Do you want to sleep in here tonight?" Rachel asked, turning around as soon as Quinn heard the car pulling away.

Quinn shrugged.

"It's been a long day for both of us," Rachel continued. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be alone tonight."

Quinn nodded. "I can sleep in here."

Quinn stood up and walked across the hall; she pulled out a pair of plaid, pajama pants from the dresser and then walked to the closet to grab a t-shirt. She quickly pulled off her old clothes and changed into her sleepwear before walking to the bathroom in the hall where she removed her makeup and brushed her teeth. When she walked back into Rachel's room, the brunette was still in her bathroom, so Quinn walked to the bed and slipped under the covers. When Rachel emerged from the bathroom, she turned off the light, and walked around to the other side of the bed.

"If you were me, what would you do?" Quinn asked, staring up at the darkened ceiling.

"About which part?" Rachel asked.

"Santana," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed. "I don't know, Quinn."

"I just want to keep you and Brittany safe," Quinn said, turning her head toward the brunette.

"I know," Rachel said, scooting over, and cuddling into Quinn's side.

Quinn hesitantly wrapped her arms around Rachel, but as soon as her arms were around the brunette, the other girl snuggled even closer. She tried closing her eyes and blocking her thoughts out, but it was hard to do, especially after the day she just had. She was so terrified of losing Rachel and she very nearly had. Quinn knew she was falling deeper and deeper for the other girl, but she was powerless to stop it. Just being in her life was dangerous enough, and Quinn was still waiting for the time the wrong thing realized what the brunette meant to her.

"Goodnight, Quinn," Rachel said, placing a lingering kiss on Quinn's lips.

"Night, Rach," Quinn whispered, willing herself to hold back her tears.

* * *

><p>Rachel sat across from Brittany, watching her pick at her salad; she had been sullen and very un-Brittany like all weekend. Friday afternoon she asked to come over and Quinn told her she could, but she wasn't allowed to go to the basement. She begged, cried, and—for the first time Rachel had ever seen—yelled, but Quinn wouldn't budge. Rachel thought she was being a little unfair, but she didn't say it aloud. She didn't want Quinn to think she was ganging up on her and she didn't think she would be able to change her mind anyway.<p>

Rachel glanced at Quinn; she was also picking at her food and didn't look very happy. In fact, the whole table was silent except for Finn and Puck; Finn tried engaging her in conversation, but she wasn't really in the mood to talk. Rachel always tried to be patient and kind to everyone, but Finn couldn't seem to take a hint that she wasn't interested. He seemed to assume that because she didn't have a boyfriend that she should want to go out with him. She was a very verbose person, but she was quickly running out of ways to tell him she wasn't interested. Once she had even told him she was interested in someone else, but he asked who and she couldn't exactly tell him, so it didn't deter him in the slightest.

"What?" Quinn asked when Rachel glanced at her again.

"Nothing," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed. "You keep looking at me."

"Maybe I simply like looking at you," Rachel whispered and she could see a faint blush on Quinn's cheeks.

Rachel turned her head and noticed Brittany watching them with a sad look on her face. She hated seeing the blonde like this and wished there was something she could do to make things better for her.

"Would you like my pudding cup?" Tina asked, pushing it toward Brittany, but the blonde just shrugged. "If you don't, I'm just going to throw it away."

"Hey, I'll take it!" Finn said, starting to reach across the table.

Rachel scowled and stomped on Finn's foot, causing him to yelp and retract his arm.

"What was that for?" he asked, reaching under the table to rub his injured foot.

"Oh, sorry," Rachel said, shrugging her shoulder.

"Here," Tina said, setting the cup on Brittany's tray.

"Thanks," Brittany said, reaching for it, and smiling the slightest bit.

Rachel mouthed a 'thank you' to Tina and the goth girl smiled at her. Finn was still looking at her in complete confusion and Rachel resisted rolling her eyes; he really was a bit slow sometimes and she might find it slightly charming if he wasn't constantly doing things that annoyed her.

"How was everyone's weekend?" Tina suddenly asked, looking around the table.

"I had a kickass party Saturday night," Puck said, smirking, and then turning to look at Brittany and Quinn. "You ladies really should have been there."

Quinn scoffed. "No, thanks."

"I finished Call of Duty for the third time," Finn said, smiling proudly.

"Boys," Kurt said, shaking his head. "Mercedes and I spent Saturday shopping."

"Excuse me," Quinn said, standing up.

Rachel watched as Quinn threw her uneaten food away and disposed of her tray. When it was obvious that the blonde was leaving the cafeteria and not coming back to the table, Rachel stood up to follow her. She quickly wove her way through the tables, jagging to catch up to the other girl. Either Quinn didn't know she was following her or didn't care because she didn't slow down or acknowledge her in any way. Rachel followed behind her, all the way to the locker room; when she walked inside, Quinn had already disappeared into the training room. When Rachel checked the door, it was locked, so she knocked lightly on it.

"Quinn," Rachel said, knocking a second time.

When the door finally opened, Quinn was standing there with an unreadable expression on her face. "What?"

"I-I just wanted to see if you were okay," Rachel replied. "You left the cafeteria so quickly."

Quinn opened the door wider and Rachel took it as an invitation to enter; she walked to the bench and sat down while Quinn walked over to the punching bag.

"I didn't want to have to lie to everyone," Quinn said, punching the bad once. "One of them would ask what I did and I didn't want to lie. It's not like I could tell them the truth, though; yeah, I spent all weekend keeping Brittany from seeing Santana, who is now a vampire, and then at night I trolled the graveyards for other vampires." Quinn sighed and turned to Rachel. "How do you lie to them? They're not even my friends and I feel bad about it."

Rachel shrugged. "I do it for you. Yes, I'm lying to them, but I do it to keep you safe and keep them happy. If they knew the truth about you, they would know the truth about our world and I think people are happier not knowing. It's why the people in this town see what they see, but they ignore it."

"Do you wish you never knew?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No, not for a second. I'm happier now—I have friends, I feel like I have a purpose."

"I think Brittany hates me," Quinn said, ducking her head.

Rachel laughed. "I don't think Brittany knows how to hate."

"I've seen her sad before, but I've never seen her so—" Quinn sighed. "She actually yelled at me; I don't think I've ever heard her raise her voice to anyone before."

"Why don't you just let her see Santana?" Rachel asked. "Not alone, but with you there so you don't have to worry about anything happening to her."

"I can't," Quinn said, sighing.

"Why not?" Rachel asked.

"Santana asked me not to," Quinn admitted. "She doesn't was Brittany knowing she's the one against it, though."

Rachel frowned. "Oh."

"I promised her I wouldn't say anything and that I would take the fall for everything," Quinn said, sighing. "I would rather Brittany mad at me than thinking Santana doesn't love her."

"I don't think you give Brittany enough credit," Rachel replied. "I really think you and Santana should explain everything to her."

"Maybe," Quinn said, shrugging. "Santana has her mind set, though, and you know how difficult she can be sometimes."

"Maybe I can talk to her," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed lightly. "Good luck."

* * *

><p>"What are you doing here, Brittany," Quinn asked, opening up the front door, and finding the blonde on the other side.<p>

"I need to talk to you," Brittany said.

"I can't," Quinn said, walking past her.

"It's important," Brittany said, following her toward the car.

"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Quinn asked. "We can talk before school."

"Wait," Brittany said, stepping around her, stopping her in her tracks. "I think there might be something we can do about Santana. We can make her normal again. Well, not completely normal, but close."

Quinn sighed; Brittany had that gleam of excitement in her eyes and Quinn didn't want to squash it, but she also knew there wasn't anything they could do about the vampire. She hated seeing Brittany excited and optimistic when she knew it was only going to end in disappointment.

"Britt—"

"I'm serious," Brittany interrupted. "I've been reading some and I really think I know how to fix her."

"Hey, Brittany," Rachel said, drawing the two blondes' attention.

"Sorry, Britt, but we have to go patrol," Quinn said.

Brittany sighed but nodded; Quinn watched as she turned around and walked back toward her mother's car. Quinn waved to Mrs. Pierce when she saw the older woman waving at her; the woman was a lot like her daughter—always happy, almost to a fault.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked, looking at her.

Quinn shook her head. "Nothing."

They both got into the car and Quinn drove them to one of the graveyards; this one was on the outskirts of town and she had only been to it once before. Sue talked to her earlier in the day, telling her she needed to expand her patrol range, which meant she needed to go even further out than she had been. Quinn usually avoided the cemeteries further out since the few times she was out there, she came up empty. She assumed it was because there were less people walking around at night, so the vampires didn't bother going around there if they weren't going to find a meal around.

Rachel stayed quiet during the car ride and it was slightly unnerving to Quinn; the brunette was almost never silent for long and Quinn couldn't help but think something was wrong. She didn't seem upset or anything, though, so Quinn let her be.

"Why does Miss Sylvester want you to come all the way out here?" Rachel asked when they were out of the car, both looking around the fairly small graveyard.

"I don't know," Quinn replied, sighing. "She just tells me what to do and I do it—most of the time, anyway."

Rachel laughed lightly. "I don't really understand you and Miss Sylvester's dynamic. From what I gathered, Watchers are supposed to guide their Slayers, but she doesn't really do anything. Every now and then, she tells you to do something, but when we could really use her, she's not around. I really believe you should see about requesting a new Watcher."

"I think I actually prefer her," Quinn said, shrugging. "I don't think I would like someone watching my every move."

"I know you like to be independent, but she's being careless," Rachel stated.

"Can we—" Quinn paused and turned her head when something caught her eye. "What is that?"

Rachel turned around, looking in the direction that Quinn was staring. "I don't know."

Quinn watched as a caravan of vehicles drove past the graveyard; there were four cars and two trucks that all had black windows. They were following closely behind one another and were all driving well over the thirty-five mile per hour speed limit. The last car started slowing down, but the other four vehicles continued on their journey. When it was obvious that the car was going to stop, Quinn moved to stand in front of Rachel, ready to protect her.

"Maybe they just want to ask for directions," Rachel whispered, placing her hand on Quinn's hip, peering around her.

"It's possible, but I have a really bad feeling about this," Quinn replied, reaching her arm back, pulling Rachel closer to her.

Quinn watched the car come to a complete stop; it sat there for a few moments before the engine shut off and Quinn held her breath. The back, right door creaked open and was quickly followed by the other three doors. Two men and two women stepped out of the vehicle and Quinn watched them intently.

"Oh look, a meal," one of the women said, her face morphing into her vampire face.

"Not good," Rachel whispered.

"You think?" Quinn sarcastically said.

She felt Rachel reach into her back pocket, pulling out her stake she had put there; the other girl placed it in Quinn's hand and she gripped it tightly. Two of the vampires were walking closer, smirking, and the other two were heading toward the sides; she could tell they were trying to trap them so they had no place to run. Rachel was pulling on her shirt, walking them backwards, stepping every time the vampires took a step forward.

"Get them," the tall, blonde, male vampire instructed.

The two that we on the sides ran at them; Quinn kicked one in the stomach and turned around just in time to punch the other one in the face. Rachel kneed the first one in the nose while he was doubled over from Quinn's kick and the blonde continued exchanging punches with the female vampire. When the other vampire finally stood up, he swung his fist, catching Rachel's jaw and causing her to fall. She clutched at it and Quinn looked over her shoulder at the brunette; as she was distracted, one of the other vampires ran at her, knocking her to the ground. Quinn tried to get up, but the vampire was on top of her, preventing it; she looked to the side and the vampire Rachel was fighting had picked her up, holding her so her feet were dangling.

Quinn groaned as the vampire punched her in the mouth and she could immediately taste blood. Her hands were being held down, so she head-butted the vampire, dazing him, which gave her the opportunity to kick him off. She didn't hesitate in running toward the vampire holding Rachel; she kicked him in the leg, hearing a snap, and Rachel was dropped to the ground

"Run," Quinn said, grabbing her hand.

Rachel did as she was told and ran as fast as she could; Quinn was right behind her until one of the vampires caught up to them, tackling her from behind.

"Go to the car," Rachel instructed.

Rachel ignored her and backtracked, kicking the vampire in the side at the same time Quinn bit his hand. He fell onto his back, beside Quinn, and Rachel tossed her stake to the blonde. Quinn caught it with ease and rolled on top of the vampire, bring the stake down and into his chest. Before he even turned to dust, Quinn was jumping up, grabbing Rachel's hand, and running toward the car.

"Why are we running?" Rachel asked as soon as she jumped into the car.

"Because we're smart," Quinn replied. "Fighting four at once is bad enough, but I'm afraid their friends are going to show back up and then we're really in trouble."

"Why would a bunch of vampires drive to Lima?" Rachel asked.

"That's a good question," Quinn replied, stepping on the gas pedal.

* * *

><p>"What are you going to do?" Rachel asked, following Quinn into the house.<p>

The blonde sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

"I can't believe Miss Sylvester actually told you not to do anything," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"As much as she acts like she doesn't care about anyone, I think she's afraid something will happen to us," Quinn said, walking toward the basement door. "As far as she knows, she's already lost Santana, and she probably doesn't want to lose her Slayer too."

"Do you think the Watcher's council will be able to provide her with any information?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Quinn replied. "Caravan of vampires isn't exactly a lot to go on."

"Regardless, I'm going to do some research," Rachel said, waiting on Quinn to open the basement door. "Maybe I can find something about a ritual or anniversary—anything that will explain why they're here. If we know that, maybe we can figure out what they're going to do and they best way to get rid of them."

"Yeah, one down, about twenty more to go," Quinn said, unlocking the last deadbolt.

Quinn walked down first, just in case, but Santana was still completely secure against the wall. The vampire was watching something on the television—it sounded like news—and only briefly looked up when they walked into the room. Rachel made a beeline for the computer while Quinn walked to the bookshelf and grabbed a book at random. She wanted to tell Santana to help, but the vampire looked so depressed that she didn't have the heart to make her look through a bunch of boring, research books.

"There were attacks last night," Santana suddenly said and Quinn turned around to look at her. "Three people were killed."

"What?" Rachel asked, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"It was on the news earlier," Santana said, nodding toward the television. "The police are telling everyone to stay in their houses after dark and advising people to not open their doors for anyone, not matter what."

Quinn sighed and sat down in a chair.

"It's not your fault," Rachel stated.

Quinn laughed lightly and looked at the brunette. "What makes you think I thought it was?"

"Because I know you," Rachel replied. "Right now you're thinking how you should have stayed in the graveyard last night, fought the vampires, and then you should have looked for the rest." Quinn looked away, but heard Rachel laughing. "Tell me I'm wrong."

"No," Quinn sighed, "you're right."

Santana suddenly gasped. "Brittany!"

Quinn quickly looked toward Santana and then at the stairs; the blonde was standing at the bottom with a sheepish look on her face.

"The door wasn't locked," Brittany replied.

Quinn frowned; she thought for sure she had locked the door upstairs. She knew she didn't lock the basement door back since there was no one in the house to come downstairs that shouldn't be there.

"Can we talk?" Brittany asked, gazing at Santana.

"You shouldn't be here," Santana said, looking away.

"Why not?" Brittany asked, stepping forward.

"Because I don't want to hurt you again," Santana replied, still not looking at the blonde.

Brittany shook her head. "You won't."

"You don't know that!" Santana nearly yelled. "I promised I would never do anything to hurt you, but I did and I can't let that happen again. I would do anything to not hurt you, and if that means not being around you, then that's what I'll do."

A smile slowly appeared on Brittany's face. "That's what I needed to hear."

Quinn frowned. "Brittany, what are you—"

"I told you, I think I know how to fix Santana," Brittany replied.

"What do you mean 'fix Santana'? Rachel asked.

"I found a spell that will help her," Brittany answered. "It won't make her not dead or anything, but it will make her not want to hurt people."

"Like—giving her soul back?" Quinn asked.

"No, not that," Brittany replied. "I don't know what exactly it does, but I know it will stop San from doing anything bad."

Quinn rubbed her eyes. "And who do you think is going to do this spell?"

"Me," Brittany replied.

"You?" Rachel said, frowning.

"Yep, I'm like totally a witch now," Brittany said, smiling.

Quinn and Rachel both looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. Quinn loved Brittany, but the other girl wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and could often be confused about things.

"What do you mean you're a witch?" Rachel asked.

"I didn't know it for a long time, but then I saw you do that cool spell at the school that one time and I thought I would try it," Brittany replied. "It turns out I'm really good at it; my mom actually told me she's a witch too, so I guess it runs in our family. That's actually how I got in the house; I'm sorry I lied, but I just wanted to see Santana and you guys wouldn't let me, so I did a spell and unlocked the door."

"I knew I locked that door," Quinn said, frowning.

"I'm pretty sure I can do the spell, but Santana has to want it done or it won't work," Brittany said, turning to look at the vampire.

Santana stared at the blonde for a moment before shrugging. "I'll do it. I told you, I'll do anything to not hurt you again."

"I have all the stuff in a bag upstairs," Brittany said, turning back to Quinn and Rachel. "I can do it right now, but San and I need to be alone."

Quinn glanced at Santana and the vampire gave her a swift nod. "Okay—I'll get your bag for you."

* * *

><p>"How much longer can this take?" Quinn asked, walking around the living room.<p>

"Some spells can take hours," Rachel said, shrugging. "While doing research, I've seen some very complex ones to vanquish demons. If Brittany is telling the truth and she really is a witch, we could really use her at some point. The spell I performed to dispatch of the ghost was very simple compared to a lot of them and I honestly do not believe I would successfully pull them off."

"I just—how can Britt be a witch?" Quinn asked, shaking her head.

Rachel shrugged. "While I agree that Brittany is not conventionally what people would consider book smart, maybe her talents lie else well. If her mother is a witch, it could run in her blood, which is why she picked it up so quickly. I have done extensive research into the supernatural and there are such things as natural witches; they usually come from a long line of magical beings."

"They don't all go to a special school when they turn eleven, do they?" Quinn asked.

Rachel laughed. "No, as far as I am aware, there is nothing like Hogwarts."

"Too bad," Quinn replied, sighing.

"I didn't take you for the Harry Potter type," Rachel said, smiling.

"You don't know everything about me," Quinn replied. "It's not exactly cool to be a Cheerio and like Harry Potter or, you know—read, so it wasn't something I advertised."

"So you're a secret nerd?" Rachel asked.

"I am not a nerd," Quinn said, raising her eyebrow.

"You were hoping Hogwarts was real," Rachel said, shrugging. "You sound like one to me."

Quinn huffed and crossed her arms over her chest; she wanted to tell Rachel she was an even bigger nerd than her, but she held her tongue. Rachel had been nothing but kind and generous even when Quinn didn't feel like she deserved it. Quinn had picked on Rachel enough for a lifetime and she didn't want to risk hurting the brunette's feelings ever again.

"Just so you know, I happen to think nerds are cute," Rachel said as she stood up.

Quinn shook her head, slowly smirking, and watched as Rachel walked toward the kitchen. When the other girl came back, she had two glasses of water and handed one of them to Quinn.

"Thanks," Quinn said, taking it.

"I thought we should stay hydrated; we could be here a while," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Always so dramatic," Quinn quipped.

"One does want to be prepared," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed. "Even in your own house?"

"Of course," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn shook her head, but she was smiling; Rachel was unlike anyone she had ever met, but that was one of her favorite things about the brunette. She was always herself, no matter how much other people tried to change her or tell her that who she was wasn't good enough.

"I have a proposition for you," Rachel said, playing with the edge of the blanket she had thrown over herself.

"Oh," Quinn said, raising her eyebrow.

Rachel cleared her throat. "I was wondering if you weren't busy this weekend, if you would maybe like to go do something—"

"What kind of something?" Quinn asked.

"A date kind of something," Rachel replied.

Quinn opened her mouth, but quickly closed it; she honestly didn't know what to say to Rachel. She liked her—really liked her—there was no denying that, but there were so many other things to consider. She was the Slayer, which meant she had a lot of responsibilities and it also meant she had a target on her back. If she was going out with Rachel and anyone or anything ever found out, she would be in even more danger than she would be if they were just friends.

"Rachel, I—I think they're done," Quinn said, hearing the basement door open.

Rachel stood up and they both took a few steps forward. Brittany was the first to come into the room and when she stepped aside, Santana was standing behind her.

"Did it work?" Rachel asked.

Brittany smiled and nodded her head. "It worked."

"Really?" Quinn asked, walking toward Santana. "You're like—neutered then?"

Santana scoffed. "Fuck you."

"Language," Rachel said, stepping forward. "You don't want to hurt people?"

"I wouldn't say that," Santana said, scowling at Quinn.

"I was actually wrong on what the spell would do," Brittany said, sheepishly. "It doesn't make her not want to hurt people, but it makes it so she _can't_ hurt people."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"Britt made me try to bite her and I couldn't," Santana replied, shrugging. "I tried, but it was like there was a force field around her, so I couldn't do anything."

"Is that all the time?" Quinn asked.

"No, just when she's trying to hurt someone," Brittany answered.

"The spell seems to know my intentions," Santana added. "Britt did it—whether I want to or not, I can't hurt anyone."

"I told you I could do it," Brittany said, smiling.

* * *

><p>"Guys!" Brittany called from the basement and Quinn could hear her footsteps coming up the stairs. "There's something really weird going on outside."<p>

Rachel frowned and walked toward the large window in the living room, pulling aside the curtain. "Quinn, I think the vampires from the other night are back."

"What?" Quinn asked, coming up beside Rachel.

One of the cars Quinn saw the other night was sitting across and slightly down the street. Five vampires were standing outside the car and one of them was motioning down the street, the opposite direction from Rachel's house. Two of them went in the direction he was motioning and the other two, along with the one directing them, headed the opposite way.

"What are we going to do?" Rachel asked.

"I'm going to go out there," Quinn replied.

"_We're_ going to go out there," Rachel corrected.

"Can I help too?" Brittany asked, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"It's going to be dangerous, Britt," Quinn said, looking at the blonde.

Santana rolled her eyes. "It's no more dangerous than Berry going with you."

Quinn sighed. "Fine, but you need to keep an eye on her and make sure nothing happens to her while she's out there."

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" Santana asked.

"Right," Quinn replied. "Let's go to the basement and grab some supplies, but hurry. I don't know what they're doing out there, but it can't be anything good, so we need to be quick."

Rachel was already on her way to the basement and Quinn wasn't very far behind; Santana and Brittany were following her and the blonde seemed overly excited at the prospect of fighting some vampires. She was slightly worried for her friend, but she knew Santana would protect her in any way possible. As much as she hated the thought of pulling more people into the danger, four against five was a lot better odds than two against five.

When Quinn got to the bottom of the stairs, she immediately walked to her bag on the floor and pulled out several stakes; she held onto one, but tucked the other one in her back pocket. She also grabbed a cross and a bottle of holy water and put them into her front pockets. When she turned around, Rachel had a stake in one hand and a cross in the other, and Brittany and Santana were both holding stakes in their hands. Brittany seems a lot more enthused about it than Santana did, but at least the vampire wasn't complaining. She still seemed sullen, though, and Quinn knew it was still from hurting Brittany; she was punishing herself worse than anyone else ever could.

"Are we ready?" Quinn asked.

"Yes!" Brittany said, smiling.

"Okay, everyone be careful out there," Quinn said more so to Brittany than anyone else since she knew Rachel was always careful and that Santana could take care of herself.

Everyone followed Quinn upstairs and she motioned for them to stay back as she opened the door. When she peered outside, the group of vampires was just outside the neighbor's front door. From where she was standing, she couldn't tell what they were doing; she wanted to get closer, but she knew they would see her if she tried to walk closer.

"Do you see them?" Rachel whispered.

"They're over there," Quinn whispered back, nodding toward them.

"What's the holdup?" Santana asked.

Quinn whipped her head around and glared at Santana; she heard a growl outside and sighed, turning back around. The vampires had heard Santana and were now walking toward Rachel's house; they had obviously seen Quinn and Rachel because they were all smiling and looked as if they had just found their next meal.

"Thanks so much, Santana," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Santana smirked. "No problem. Now quit being such a pansy." Santana shoved Quinn over the threshold. "I could use a good fight after being in the basement so damn long."

The vampires started running at Quinn; she narrowly dodged the one in front, tripping him in the process, and then she landed a right hook to the female vampire that was just behind him. Santana sauntered up to the first vampire and punched him so hard that he went flying into the air, landing on his back, several feet away, right next to Quinn. Quinn elbowed the female vampire in the face, knocking her to the side, and leaned down, staking the other vampire in the chest.

Brittany and Rachel were both fighting the third vampire, but seemed to be doing just fine, so Quinn turned back to the other one. Santana was already fighting it, but didn't seem to have a stake, so Quinn reached in her back pocket and tossed her other stake to her friend. Santana head-butted the other vampire and put the stake in his chest, turning him to dust. When she turned around to check on Brittany and Rachel, the brunette had the vampire by its arms, and Brittany was running her stake through him.

"We have company?" Santana said, nodding past Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn turned around and the other two vampires from the car were running toward them. As soon as she took a step toward them, a fireball flew past her head, hitting one of the vampires in the chest. Quinn hit the ground in surprise and looked behind her; Brittany was standing a few feet away, smiling proudly.

"Did you do that?" Quinn asked in surprise.

"Yep, although I was trying to slow him down, so it didn't really work like I meant it to," Brittany said, shrugging.

Quinn laughed lightly. "Well, either way, well done."

"Behind you," Brittany stated.

Quinn turned around, plunging the stake in the last vampire's chest. "Thanks."

"What now?" Rachel asked, jogging over to her.

"I have a feeling the rest of them are out tonight too," Quinn said, sighing. "This is going to be a long night."

"Do you think we should split up?" Rachel asked.

Quinn looked at Santana and Brittany for a moment; Santana was just as strong as she was and Brittany seemed to have power that Quinn had never expected. "Okay, but everyone needs to be careful and we'll stay in pairs; if it looks like you can't handle things, run and get back to Rachel's house."

"Aye aye, Captain," Santana said, smirking.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "See you guys in a bit."

* * *

><p>"We're lucky they all split into groups," Rachel said right after Quinn dusted another vampire.<p>

It was the third one from the truck that was now sitting nearby, empty. They stumbled across the vampires in the middle of town, right outside the Lima Public Library. They had only been driving through town for a few minutes when they found them and Quinn was thankful they got to them before they could get to anyone else. Luckily people had been warned to stay in their houses or there probably would have been more dead people in the news.

"If Brittany and Santana haven't found any and they all stayed in town, that would leave three cars and one truck left," Quinn said, looking around.

"Where should we go now?" Rachel asked.

"Let's drive toward the school—hold on." Quinn took her vibrating phone out of her back pocket.

"What is it?" Rachel asked, trying to see the screen. "Well, Brittany is being very rude; that isn't like her."

Quinn laughed lightly at the frown on Rachel's face. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Santana used Brittany's phone to send that text."

"Oh," Rachel said, blushing. "That does make more sense."

"Yeah," Quinn said, shaking her head, and smiling. "If they're staying on the west side, they have the school covered, so let's go toward the park, instead."

"Why the park?" Rachel asked.

"These vampires don't seem to care if people see them," Quinn replied. "In fact, I get the feeling they want to run into as many people as possible. Vampires are usually a lot better about not getting on the news, but this group doesn't seem to care, which is really strange. They killed three people, but left their bodies in the open, for people to find—it sounds like a message to me."

"I never thought of that," Rachel said, cocking her head. "It makes sense, though, that vampires would want to cover their tracks. If humans knew they existed, they would never go out after dark, and that wouldn't be very beneficial to a vampire's survival. Why would this group of vampires want people to know they're in town, though?"

"And there was nothing in your research that would tell us why they're here?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No—but I kind of forgot to look again."

Quinn raised her eyebrow and stared at Rachel. "Okay, what is going on with you?"

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"You've been sort of—distracted the last few days," Quinn replied, shrugging. "Especially today; you haven't been yourself and I was just wanting to make sure everything is okay with you."

"I'm fine," Rachel said, waving Quinn off. "I've been distracted because of Glee; Sectionals are coming up quickly and we're still four members short of being able to compete. I know I really shouldn't worry about it considering everything that has happened, but—"

"Hey," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel by the hand and pulling her closer. "Of course you should worry about it; you want to be on Broadway one day, don't you? Isn't that your dream?"

"Yes, but it seems so trivial now," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Rachel, it's important to you and you shouldn't feel bad because of that," Quinn said, sighing. "This may be my life now, but it doesn't have to be your life as well. You're going to leave Lima one day, go to New York, and become incredibly famous, and Glee is going to help that dream come true. I don't want you to think it doesn't matter or that it shouldn't matter to you. It isn't fair that I drug you into my mess, so I'm happy you still have something normal in your life to take you away from all of this."

"You didn't drag me into this," Rachel replied. "If you recall, I was quite happy to join you."

"Are you still happy about it?" Quinn asked, curious.

"If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be," Rachel replied. "I might not be special like the rest of you, but I'm going to do my darnedest to help in any way that I can."

Quinn frowned. "What do you mean you're tot special?"

"Well, you're the Slayer, Santana is a vampire, and Brittany is a witch," Rachel replied. "I'm the only one that's not special."

Quinn shook her head. "You're wrong, you know? You still come out here and fight just like the rest of us; I think that makes you more special."

Rachel ducked her head, but Quinn could see she was smiling as she said, "Let's get to the car and go to the park, shall we?"

* * *

><p>"Why isn't Brittany answering her phone?" Rachel asked, frowning at the device in her hand.<p>

"You probably don't want to know," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"You don't mean they're having intercourse, do you?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed. "Who calls it intercourse anymore?"

"Sorry, but it seems unlikely to me that they would be doing that at a time like this," Rachel replied and Quinn laughed even louder. "What?"

"You've met Brittany and Santana, right?" Quinn asked.

Rachel sighed. "Okay, you're probably correct."

"Of course I am," Quinn said, smirking.

Quinn was driving them home after a very long night; they had run into two other groups of vampires. The first group was at the park when they arrived and the second took a while to find, but they eventually found them in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in town. The second group was the same group of vampires Quinn and Rachel had fought earlier in the week and they didn't appear very happy to see them again. One in particular seemed to have it in for them; Quinn figured it was because they had killed the group's fifth member and maybe it was the vampires mate. Whatever the reason, though, Rachel had a gash on her forehead from the vampire knocking her onto the sidewalk and Quinn already had several bruises forming on her abdomen.

They had driven around town for the last few hours, unable to find either of the other two groups of vampires. They eventually gave up, assuming that maybe Brittany and Santana had taken care of them. Rachel was still trying to call Brittany's cell phone to see how their search had gone, but the blonde wasn't answering. Quinn wasn't worried, though, because like she told Rachel, she and Santana were probably off somewhere together; it wouldn't be the first time her calls were ignored for that very reason.

"Did we leave the lights on?" Rachel asked as the car approached the house.

"I don't think so," Quinn replied. "I told you they would be here."

Rachel shrugged her shoulder and unbuckled her seatbelt. "They better be doing it on her bed and not in the living room or my room."

"I wouldn't count on it," Quinn replied, laughing.

They walked up to the door and Rachel cautiously opened it, peaking inside. "Well, at least they're not in the living room—or are being very quiet."

"They don't know how to be quiet," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Quinn walked inside and headed for the basement door, but before she got halfway through the house, she heard voices coming from the kitchen. When she went into the room, Brittany was sitting on the counter in nothing but her underwear and Santana was leaning against the refrigerator, thankfully fully clothed.

"What took you so long?" Santana asked, smirking at her.

"Well, someone wouldn't answer her phone, so we drove around for hours looking for more vampires," Quinn pointedly said.

"Sorry about that, but we were sort of busy," Santana replied, causing Quinn to roll her eyes.

"So you dispatched the other two groups?" Rachel asked.

"They're dust," Santana confirmed.

"Good," Rachel said, smiling. "I would still like to know why they were here, though. Do think it has something to do with Shelby? Maybe she brought them here to kill you."

"Well, if that was the plan, they did a suck ass job at it," Santana replied.

Rachel frowned at Santana, but ignored her bad language. "I wish her Watcher's diaries had a picture of her; it would be good to know what she looks like. For all we know, we might run into her, but have no idea."

"You're forgetting, Berry, but one of us _has_ seen her," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"What did she look like?" Quinn asked, curious now that Rachel brought it up.

"Long, dark hair, dark eyes, tall—actually, she looked a lot like Berry," Santana replied. "Except, you know, she wasn't a midget."

Rachel huffed. "I am not _that_ short."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Santana said, smirking at Rachel.

"You're hurt," Brittany said, appearing to finally notice the gash on Rachel's forehead.

"I'm fine," Rachel said, reaching up, and gently brushing her fingers along the cut.

"Where's your Band-Aids?" Brittany asked, jumping off the counter.

"They're upstairs," Rachel replied and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Brittany had her by the hand, and was leading her out of the kitchen.

"You and B were okay out there?" Quinn asked as soon as the other two were out of earshot.

Santana nodded. "Britt kicked some vampire ass."

"I didn't know she had it in her," Quinn said, smiling.

"When are you going to learn to never underestimate my girl," Santana replied before turning her head and staring at Quinn. "Do you think Shelby had something to do with what was going on tonight?"

Quinn shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea."

Santana pushed off from the refrigerator. "Whether or not it was her, I have no idea. You need to watch yourself, though, because one of these days, she _is_ going to come after you."

Quinn sighed and looked away. "I know."

* * *

><p><strong>Hopefully that was worth the wait; I do apologize for how long it took me to write this and hopefully it never takes me that long again.<strong>

**Please take a few seconds to leave a review and let me know what you thought.**


	11. Underground

**An update! And it didn't take quite as long as last time!**

**ToastedMarshmellow08: She might be…or she might not be. **_**I**_** know, but where would the fun be in telling people now ;).**

**watdaforks: I'm okay; she was 90 and had Alzheimer's for quite some time, so we knew it was just a matter of time. It does suck, though—both of my parents are gone and now all of my grandparents are as well.**

**ryiah03: We can all dream…let me know if you win the lottery anytime soon, okay? **

**DrWhoFan71: Yes, and I intended to mention that in the chapter, but somewhere along the way I forgot. Oh well…can't remember everything lol.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11 – Underground<strong>

Puck bumped his hip into his sister, knocking her off the sidewalk and into the grass. She looked up at her older brother, glaring at him, and then looked down and kicked him in the shin.

"Dude!" Puck yelped and grabbed at his shin

She was looking at him with the trademark Puckerman smirk that they had both had. That and Puck's penchant for getting into trouble were two of the only things he had ever gotten from his father. He hoped his sister wouldn't get the Puckerman attitude, but even at age seven, she was already a handful.

"Do I look like a dude?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Puck narrowed his eyes. "No, you look like a little girl that's about to get a noogie."

As soon as the word was half out of Puck's mouth, his sister went running and Puck wasn't very far behind. While he used his longer legs to his advantage, she was still quick and able to duck around people a lot easier than he could. Puck was laughing when he caught up to her; he grabbed her around her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" she demanded, slapping at his back.

"What's the magic word?" Puck asked, smiling.

"Now!" she yelled, punching Puck in the shoulder.

"Dammit, Abi, that hurt," Puck said, pulling her off of him, and dropping her onto the grass.

"I'm going to tell Mom you're being mean to me," Abi said, sticking her tongue out.

"You wouldn't," Puck said, scowling at her.

"Try me," she defiantly said, glaring up at him.

Puck sighed and sat down on the grass, next to her. "Watch out or I'll take your birthday present back." Abi gasped and started pouting; she looked as if she was going to cry and Puck threw his hands up. "Okay, I was only joking so chill."

If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was his sister crying. When she was born, he made a promise to himself to be a good big brother; he may joke around with her a lot, but anytime he made her cry, he would feel like the world's biggest ass.

Her glossy eyes instantly went back to their normal look and she smirked at him. "I thought so."

"You totally played me!" he said, scoffing.

"It's not hard," Abi said, shrugging her thin shoulders.

"I'm leaving you here," Puck said, standing up, and walking away.

"Okay," Abi replied.

"Alright," Puck said back.

Puck continued walking until he was nearly at the end of the sidewalk. He had expected his sister to come running up to him at any time like she usually did when he got very far away, but he still hadn't heard her footsteps behind him. He sighed to himself and stopped, turning around; she had moved off the grass and was now sitting on the curb. Rolling his eyes at himself, he walked toward her; he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it from her, but he wasn't really going to walk off without her.

"Come on, let's go home," he said when he was about five yards away from her.

"Didn't you say you were leaving me here?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

Puck rolled his eyes and held out his hand for her. "Don't be such a smartass."

"I'm going to tell mom you're using bad wor—"

Abi suddenly screamed and was pulled off the curb. Puck tripped over his feet, nearly falling on his face as he tried to get to her. He watched in horror as she was pulled toward the storm drain faster than he could run to her. She was already inside when the tips of his fingers made contact with hers, but he couldn't get a good enough grip on her hand to pull her back. He held on for several seconds before she screamed again and was completely pulled from his grasp.

He tried to squeeze inside, but it was no use; he was far too big to fit into the small space. When he looked into the drain, he could see nothing but darkness.

"Abi!" Puck yelled, blindly reaching into the storm drain, failing his arm inside, and trying to grab for anything. "Abi!"

* * *

><p>"Can you meet me in the auditorium at lunch?" Rachel asked, glancing at Quinn as they walked into the school side by side. "There is a song I would like to perform tomorrow in Glee and I would like to get your opinion on it."<p>

"Rach, I'm sure whatever you do is going to be amazing," Quinn said, shaking her head slightly. "I don't think you've ever given a bad performance, so why would this one be any different?"

"I know, but I would still like your opinion on it," Rachel said, shrugging her shoulders. "I want to be the best and one can never get enough feedback."

Quinn smiled to herself and then looked at Rachel, smiling wider. "Do you really even have to ask?"

"Apparently," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed, shaking her head once again. "I just meant that we always spend lunch together; you should know by now that wherever you go, I go."

"Yes, but it would be rude of me to assume, so I asked," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde.

"What song are you singing?" Quinn asked. "Wait, never mind—it's a surprise, right?"

Rachel smiled. "You know me so well."

Quinn stopped at her locker and Rachel paused beside her; as the blonde spun the dial, entering the combination, she could feel Rachel's eyes on her. She tried ignoring it, but she was beginning to notice Rachel staring at her more and more and it was getting harder for her to pretend she didn't notice. Not that it was ever easy for her to ignore it, though—Rachel had always looked at her so intently that she had trouble not breaking under her stare.

"Hey, Rach."

Quinn clenched her jaw at the sound of Finn's voice; not only did his tone bug her, but he also called her Rach.

"Good morning, Finn," Rachel replied, and Quinn couldn't help but smile at the sigh that followed the brunette's greeting.

"I was wondering if we could talk," Finn said, causing Quinn to look over her shoulder. "In private."

Quinn slammed her locker shut and Rachel placed a calming hand on her shoulder; she didn't know why Finn riled her up the way he did. Sure it was annoying how he was constantly going after Rachel even though it was obvious she wasn't interested. Quinn dated him, though, so she knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and he was mostly harmless. He could be possessive and was way too worried about what the Neanderthals on the football team thought of him, but the same could be said for most of the boys in the school. No—what annoyed her was the way he looked at Rachel; she knew that look all too well and it angered her that it was being directed at the brunette.

"Quinn and I were in the middle of a conversation, Finn," Rachel said, giving Quinn's shoulder a light squeeze.

Finn frowned. "You were just standing there when I came over."

"One does not always have to talk in order to have a conversation," Rachel replied.

"Huh?" Finn said, looking even more confused.

"Nothing," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I am busy right now, though, so whatever you want to discuss will have to wait until a later time."

Finn sighed but nodded resignedly. "I'll see you at lunch?"

Rachel smiled faintly and Finn turned, walking down the hall; Quinn could tell he looked dejected and his shoulders were slumped, but she couldn't seem to make herself care.

"I thought we were going to the auditorium at lunch," Quinn said, raising an eyebrow at Rachel.

The brunette shrugged a shoulder and had a slight smirk on her face. "I didn't think that was information he needed to know. And before you say anything, I didn't lie to him—I simply didn't correct his assumption."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Quinn said, holding her hands up.

Rachel smiled, looked at the floor, and shook her head the slightest bit; Quinn raised her eyebrow at the action, wondering what was going through the brunette's head. When Rachel looked up and into her eyes, Quinn gave her a soft smile while Rachel continued staring at her.

"What?" Quinn finally asked, cracking under the brunette's intense gaze.

"You're even cuter than usual when you get jealous," Rachel stated.

Quinn scoffed. "Jealous? Me?"

"Yes, jealous," Rachel said, turning, and walking down the hall.

"Of _him_!?" Quinn said, pointing down the hall even though the boy was no longer around. "Are you crazy?"

"Every time he talks to me, you go from the Quinn I know to the Quinn that I used to know," Rachel said, raising her eyebrows. "Like I said, though, you're cute when you're jealous. You know what would stop that, though, don't you?"

"What?" Quinn asked, rolling her eyes.

"_You_ could ask me out," Rachel said, smiling widely at her.

Quinn laughed and nudged her hip into Rachel's. "In your dreams."

"Yes, a lot of the time, actually," Rachel replied, winking at Quinn, and walking off laughing when Quinn stopped, gaping at her.

Quinn closed her mouth and shook her head; it amazed her every time she got to see Rachel's flirty side. Before they were friends, the brunette always seemed so serious about everything, so Quinn never would have guessed she would see the day when Rachel Berry was openly flirting with her in the hall. Of course, she never would have guessed she would see the day when Rachel's flirting made her get butterflies, either.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked, stopping after a few steps.

Quinn looked up and saw several police officers at the end of the hall, talking to Puck; the football player was nodding as he stared at the ground. She could see a frown on his face and he looked uncharacteristically moody.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about it," Quinn said, stepping up so she was standing next to Rachel.

They both watched as one of the officers put his hand on Puck's shoulder and guided him toward the guidance counselor's office. When Quinn looked at Rachel, she saw concerned etched all over her face.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be okay," Quinn said, trying to ease Rachel's worry even though she had no idea what was going on or whether or not the words coming out of her mouth were a complete lie. "I'll talk to Puck the next time I see him and figure out what's going on, okay?"

Rachel nodded, but a frown was still on her face. "Okay."

"Can I walk you to class?" Quinn asked, hoping it would cheer the brunette up a little.

Rachel smiled slightly and Quinn knew her request had done the trick. "I would love it if you would walk me to class."

Quinn smiled and looked down the hall at the door Puck had disappeared into. She had a feeling that something very bad had happened, but if that was the case, wouldn't it have been all over school by now? Usually Mercedes and Kurt came over with the latest gossip if there was any, so she tried putting the feeling aside and focusing on the brunette to her left.

* * *

><p>When Puck didn't return to school, Quinn got even more worried. He wasn't in second period, but she assumed she would at least see him at lunch, but he never entered the cafeteria. No one seemed to know where he was or what was going on; Quinn even held back her dislike for Finn long enough to ask him. She figured if anyone would know what was going on, it would be his best friend, but Finn seemed just as clueless as he always was.<p>

The gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach had only intensified throughout the day and she had to know what was going on. As soon as the final bell rang, Quinn found Brittany and asked her to drive Rachel home; the other girl was afraid of what Coach Sylvester would say but Quinn assured her that her Coach would forgive her. The moment Brittany agreed to take Rachel home, Quinn was on her way out of the building. She quickly drove to the Puckerman house, thankful she didn't pass any police because she was clearly going over the speed limit.

When Quinn arrived at the house, she saw Puck sitting on the front steps of his home, with his head in his hands. A police car was parked a few houses away and the officer appeared to be talking to one of the Puckerman's neighbors. Quinn grabbed her keys from the ignition and quickly got out of her car. Puck didn't bother looking up as she approached and the closer Quinn got, the more she became aware that he was sniffling.

"Puck?" Quinn said, furrowing her brows.

The boy looked up and hastily wiped at his eyes, but it was still obvious he had been crying; his eyes were bloodshot and she could still see the sheen on his cheeks.

"Sup, Fabray," Puck said, nodding.

"What the hell is going on," Quinn asked, getting straight the point of why she was there.

"It's my sister," Puck quietly answered.

"What about her?" Quinn asked.

"Something took her yesterday," Puck said, clinching his jaw, and rubbing his palms up and down his jeans

Quinn let out a long breath and walked to the other side, sitting down next to him. She had met Puck's sister once at a football game and as much as she disliked Puck a lot of the time, she could tell he was a good big brother to have. The Puckerman siblings had an easy rapport that she could only dream of having with her sister.

"How did it happen?" Quinn asked.

Puck shook his head and stared straight ahead. "No one will believe me."

"Try me," Quinn replied.

"I don't know what it was," Puck said, rubbing a hand over his jaw. "We were out—she wanted to get ice cream, so I took her. On the way home, we stopped by the park for a little while, but mom wanted us home before dinner, so we were heading back. I was just joking around with her and told her I was going to leave her where she was. All I did was walk down the sidewalk. I went back, but before I got to her something grabbed her and pulled her into the fucking sewer. I don't know what the hell the thing was, but it wasn't human; the damn thing looked like a tentacle. It grabbed her and pulled her in and I couldn't get to her. She was screaming and I couldn't get to her because I was too far away. I left her side for a few seconds and now she's gone."

"It's not your fault," Quinn said, putting her arm around Puck's shoulders.

"Like hell it isn't," Puck replied. "She was my responsibility and now she's gone." Puck wiped at the tears that were rolling down his cheeks, but he didn't bother trying to hide the action from Quinn. "The police keep talking to me; I think they think I had something to do with it. I told them what I saw, but they won't believe me. They keep telling me that I'm mistaken, but I know what I fucking saw."

"I believe you," Quinn quietly said.

"You do?" Puck asked, looking at her.

"I do," Quinn confirmed.

"Have you seen it too?" Puck asked.

"No, but I've seen other things," Quinn replied. "Things that are unexplainable to most people, so yes, I believe you saw what you say you saw."

"I just wish I knew what to do," Puck said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I wish I knew how to get the cops to believe me; they're wasting their time talking to the neighbors and questioning me."

"They will never believe you," Quinn stated. "They don't want to believe you because that would mean they would have to admit things they don't want to admit."

Puck looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Quinn shook her head and stood up. "Look, I know it probably doesn't mean a lot, but if your sister is still out there, I will get her back for you."

Puck didn't look any less confused when he asked, "How can you get her back when the cops aren't doing jack shit?"

"Because I know the things they're not willing to admit," Quinn replied. "I need you to tell me exactly where she disappeared, though."

"It was right across from the crappy pizza place," Puck said. "You know, that one Finn took you to even though I told him you don't take a girl like you to a dump like that."

"I know the place," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at the memory; she had gotten sick right after eating there and spent half the night in her bathroom, throwing up after getting food poisoning.

"I think there's still police tape around the actual drain," Puck said, looking up at her. "They looked inside, but I don't know if they ever went down there to look."

"I'll check it out tonight," Quinn promised, looking down at her keys.

Puck nodded and said a quiet, "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet," Quinn said, giving him a smile.

"Thanks for being the first person to believe me," Puck said, staring into Quinn's eyes.

Quinn turned and walked back to her car; she needed to get home and have Rachel start researching whatever they were up against. She didn't know if Puck's sister was still alive, but she was damn well going to get her back if the little girl was.

* * *

><p>"Rach!" Quinn called the moment she enters the house and after a few seconds, she hears several set of footsteps coming up from the basement.<p>

Rachel was the first one to appear and Brittany was right on her heals; they looked equally concerned, so Quinn guessed Rachel had told the other blonde what was going on.

"What is it?" Rachel asked.

"Have you read anything about a—" Quinn paused, looking for the best way to describe what Puck had told her. "Sewer monster?"

"Sewer monster?" Santana asked, appearing at the top of the stairs, and standing beside her girlfriend.

"One with tentacles," Quinn added. "I know it's not a lot to go on, but Puck's sister was taken by something and that's all he gave me to go by."

"Abigail was taken?" Rachel asked, covering her mouth with her hand as tears came to her eyes. "Why wouldn't he tell me?"

Quinn looked at Rachel curiously. "I wasn't aware you and Puck were friends."

"Noah and I have attended the same synagogue since we were children," Rachel explained. "I've known Abigail since she was born."

Quinn frowned. "I didn't know that."

"I have never wanted to harm Noah's reputation at school, so I generally do not talk to him while we are there," Rachel explained. "Still, though, I'm surprised he did not confide in me today." Rachel sniffed and wiped the lone tear that had made its way down her cheek. "If you need me, I will be downstairs doing research."

With that, Rachel turned around and disappeared once more into the basement. Quinn turned to look at Brittany and the blonde looked just as upset at Rachel; Santana was rubbing her girlfriend's arm as she held her close. Santana had a slight frown on her face, but she wasn't crying like Rachel and Brittany were.

"Britt, do you think you can help Rachel?" Quinn asked.

Brittany vigorously nodded. "I'll do anything to help." Brittany gave Santana a quick kiss to the cheek and followed in Rachel's footsteps. "I'll be downstairs with Rach."

"What are you going to do?" Santana asked as soon as Brittany's footsteps could no longer be heard.

"I'm going to the last place she was seen," Quinn replied.

"The sewer?" Santana deduced, scrunching her nose in disgust.

"He says the police won't believe him, but he saw a tentacle pull his sister into the sewer," Quinn said, walking over, and sitting down at the kitchen island. "He seems to think they believe he had something to do with her disappearance and they're not taking him seriously. I know Puck isn't my favorite person in the world, but he doesn't deserve this and his sister definitely doesn't. If she's still alive, I'm going to make sure she gets home."

"Do you think it's even possible that she's alive?" Santana asked.

"Honestly?" Quinn asked, sighing. "No, but it doesn't mean I'm not going to try. Puck told me where it pulled her in; as soon as it's dark, I'm going and having a look."

Santana fake-gaged. "Gross."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's not like you're the one going down there."

"Do you really think I'm going to let you go down there alone?" Santana asked, scoffing.

Quinn raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I wasn't aware that you cared."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Santana said, holding her hands up. "I just mean—well, I met the little brat once and it would be shitty of me if I didn't do something. Besides, I kind of feel like I owe Puck."

"For what?" Quinn asked.

"Brittany told me that Puck's been sad since I died," Santana replied. "She says he feels like it's his fault and it's not like I can go tell him it's not, so I guess I'll do this for him. Plus, kicking demon ass is more fun than sitting in that damn basement and reading through a bunch of boring books."

Quinn nodded. "So this is really about getting out of doing research."

"Basically," Santana said, shrugging.

Quinn shook her head; she knew not to take the Santana's nonchalance seriously. For some inexplicable reason, the vampire still seemed to care, and Quinn knew Santana wanted Puck's little sister to be okay just as much as she did. Santana seemed to go against everything Quinn knew about vampires, but she definitely wasn't complaining. She still had her best friend and had someone to come along on days like today. Rachel was great, but Quinn constantly worried about her being hurt; with Santana, she didn't have to even think about that.

"Come on, sunset is in about an hour," Quinn said, nodding toward the basement. "We should help them while we can."

Santana groaned and mumbled something in Spanish, but followed Quinn nevertheless. When they went downstairs, Rachel was sitting at her computer, looking very focused on the screen, while Brittany was on Santana's bed, bopping her head to a nonexistent beat. Brittany smiled the moment she saw them and held out a book for Santana; the vampire didn't seem all too thrilled about it, but she took it from her girlfriend and sat down beside her.

"Anything?" Quinn quietly asked as she come up behind Rachel.

Rachel shook her head. "Nothing yet, but when do we ever find anything quickly?"

"True," Quinn said, looking down at the brunette.

"Don't worry, though, Brittany and I will find whatever it is and you will get Abigail back," Rachel stated, glancing up at Quinn, and smiling. "I am confident that we will have her back in time to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family."

Quinn smiled back; she wanted to believe Rachel's words, but she was having a hard time convincing herself that this would come out having a happy ending.

* * *

><p>When Rachel walked into McKinley High the next morning, she immediately went in search of Puck. She knew how much his little sister meant to him, so the fact that she was missing was probably killing him inside. Rachel knew he always watched her in the afternoons, after school, before their mom got home; during that time, Abigail was his responsibly and if she knew him as well as she thought she did, he was probably blaming himself for what happened to her.<p>

As she walked down hall after hall, she still hadn't caught sight of the mohawked boy; she did, however, spot Finn at his locker. Sighing, she figured if anyone knew where he was, it would be his friend. She approached Finn and when she was still a few steps away, he turned his head, and smiled his dopey smile at her. She might have found it charming in another life, but everything had changed so much in the past year—_she_ had changed.

"Hey, Rach," Finn said, lifting his backpack onto his shoulder.

"Hello, Finn," Rachel replied.

She tried to ignore the fact that Finn, once again, called her Rach. It's not that the nickname bothered her—she just didn't like it when he said it. Quinn and Brittany had both referred to her as that on numerous occasions, but when Finn said it, it irked her.

"Have you seen Noah," Rachel asked before Finn could have the opportunity to ask her out again.

Finn frowned. "Why do you want Puck?"

"I would like to speak with him," Rachel replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Why?" Finn asked, his frown deepening.

"Have you not heard about his sister?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yeah—she's like missing or something, right?" Finn asked, shrugging his shoulders.

This time, Rachel did roll her eyes at Finn's nonchalant attitude. "Yes, well, I would like to speak with him about it."

"Oh, okay," Finn said, scratching the back of his neck. "Last I seen him, he was in the locker room."

Rachel nodded. "Thank you."

"Hey, wait!" Finn said, calling after her as she turned and walked away.

"Not now, Finn," Rachel said, ignoring him, and heading toward the boy's locker room even though she could still hear him calling after her.

When she reached the boy's locker room she paused; it was obviously a place she had never been before and had no desire to ever enter. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door a crack, listening for sounds of anyone being in there. The last thing she wanted to do was walk in on one of the football team naked.

"Noah?" she called out when it didn't appear anyone was inside.

She didn't get an answer, so she cracked the door open enough to stick her head inside. The locker room appeared to be empty and Rachel almost turned to leave when she thought she heard something. She cautiously walked in and headed toward the back of the room; when she rounded the row of lockers, she found Puck sitting on a bench with his head in his hands, staring at the floor.

"Noah," Rachel whispered.

"Should have known you wouldn't leave," Puck said, still staring down.

"I heard about Abigail," Rachel said, sitting next to Puck. "It's not your fault."

Puck scoffed and raised his head to look at the brunette. "What makes you think _I_ think it's my fault?"

"Because I know you, Noah," Rachel stated. "We might not be close, but I have known you for most of my life; you act like nothing matters to you, but I know she does. If she was with you when it happened, I know you would feel like it was your responsibility and, therefore, your fault. I'm telling you, though, that it's not."

"What do you know about it?!" Puck yelled, abruptly standing up.

"More than you think," Rachel said, not taking his outburst personally. "Quinn told me what you told her and I just want you to know that I believe you—we all do. Brittany and I were working all night trying to find out what the thing was that took her. Quinn and—Quinn went to Second Street last night and explored the area where it happened; she didn't find anything, but that doesn't mean she won't. If Abigail can be brought home, Quinn will do it."

"My mom won't even look at me," Puck said, leaning against one of the lockers. "All she does is sit in her room and cry. She blames me."

"You don't know that," Rachel said, standing up, and taking a few steps forward. "She's probably just in shock right now; I know your mother and I highly doubt she is holding you accountable."

"She should," Puck said, shaking his head.

"You have to stop feeling guilty about this," Rachel said, sighing. "I know it's horrible that this occurred, but you couldn't have known something like this was going to happen. Most people don't realize it, but Lima is not a safe place, and a lot of us find that out the hard way—we lose someone we love."

"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving," Puck stated. "It's one of the few times a year we sit at the dining room table—I guess that ain't happening this year."

"Don't underestimate Quinn," Rachel said, reaching out, and giving Puck's bicep a squeeze.

"What makes you think she can do anything?" Puck asked.

"Because she won't stop until she either finds your sister or finds the thing that took her," Rachel replied.

Puck cocked his eyebrow. "And what makes Quinn so special?"

"Everything," Rachel said, smiling softly.

* * *

><p>"Santana, what are you doing?" Quinn asked, coming down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.<p>

She had been out late all night, only getting home around sunrise; once again, her search turned up nothing, but she was going to do it again tonight. Right now, she needed rest, though, and Santana was making it rather difficult; she could heard the pots and pans banging all the way up in her room even though it was the floor above.

"I'm cooking," Santana answered.

Quinn laughed out loud. "Excuse me? You don't cook—as a matter of fact, you don't even eat anymore."

"No shit," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "But Britt does and she wants to have Thanksgiving with you and Berry, so, somehow, she talked _me_ into cooking."

"Okay, but why are you doing it so early?" Quinn asked, stifling a yawn.

"Her family always has a huge turkey, so she wanted one too," Santana said, motioning toward the counter.

Quinn looked toward where Santana motioned and her jaw dropped. "That thing is big enough to feed several dozen people and last time I checked, there were only four of us. Three if you don't count you. Two if you remembered that Rachel is vegan."

Santana rolled her eyes. "You think I don't know that, but Britt—"

"Wanted a turkey and you're so whipped, you'll do anything she wants," Quinn said, smirking.

"Fuck off," Santana said, pushing Quinn out of her way, but the blonde just laughed.

"I'm doing it because Brittany deserves something normal in her life—we all do," Santana said, turning her back to Quinn. "It's not like either of us can go see our family today; my parents would probably die from shock and your parents are assholes." Santana started rifling through the cabinets. "Where the hell do they keep the herbs?"

"Other cabinet," Quinn said, pointing to the one next to the cabinet Santana was currently looking through.

"Berry's dad skipped down and her other one snuffed it," Santana continued. "I know we're not a family, but it's the closest thing most of us have to one now."

Quinn nodded and then sighed. "But why does it have to be so early?"

"Good morning," Rachel said, entering the kitchen from the basement, and then turning to look at Quinn "I'm surprised to see you up this early; I thought you would be asleep for half the afternoon."

"So did I," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at Santana, who just smirked at her.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, looking around curiously.

"Apparently she's making Thanksgiving dinner," Quinn said, raising her eyebrow.

"I wasn't aware that you could cook, Santana," Rachel said, smiling at the vampire.

"She can't," Quinn said, laughing.

"I can too, bitch," Santana retorted.

"Language," Rachel chastised.

"Since when?" Quinn asked, smirking.

Santana just scowled and ignored Quinn's question.

"I think it's wonderful," Rachel said, shrugging. "I must admit, I hadn't thought much about Thanksgiving this year given everything that has happened in the last few months, but it will be nice to have a bit of normality." Rachel looked at Quinn and raised her eyebrows. "Since you're up, would you like to help with research?"

Quinn sighed; she wanted to say 'no' and crawl back into bed, but with the way Santana was banging around the kitchen, she knew the likelihood of sleeping was slim to none. So, instead of going back upstairs, Quinn nodded.

"Great," Rachel said, beaming at her. "I will bring the books up here; there's no point in sitting down there when Santana is up here and may need our help."

Santana smirked at Quinn and the blonde gave her a look indicating that would never happen. The one time Santana tried cooking for Brittany, she somehow talked Quinn into helping and it was a complete and utter disaster. The meal was barely edible because the two friends spent so much time arguing that they both forgot about the thing in the oven. At the time, Quinn swore she never even set foot in a kitchen if Santana was in it. She might be willing to be in a kitchen with her now, but helping her was an entirely different matter.

"Yeah, why don't you come help me?" Santana asked as soon as Rachel was out of the room.

"Help your own damn self," Quinn retorted.

"Ah ah—watch out or I'll tell your girlfriend you used that kind of language," Santana said, cocking her eyebrow.

"I don't care if you tell Rachel," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Tell me what?" Rachel asked, suddenly appearing at the top of the stairs again.

"Nothing," Quinn quickly said.

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Quinn and then slowly turned to look at Santana. "Tell me what?"

Santana glanced at Quinn for a moment. "Nothing; Quinn was just telling me how she would be _so_ happy to help me with dinner."

Rachel looked skeptically at Quinn but shrugged nonetheless. "Okay, we—should get the door." Rachel turned and walked toward the front door, where someone had rung the bell.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Quinn whispered harshly.

"Suck it up, Fabray," Santana said, smirking at her.

A few moments later, Brittany came skipping into the kitchen, and planted a kiss on Santana's cheek. "Rachel told me you're fixing dinner!"

"I told you I would," Santana mumbled, suddenly appearing shy.

"Thank you," Brittany whispered just loud enough for Quinn to hear as she pulled Santana into a hug. "I love you."

Rachel looked at Quinn and smiled, nodding toward the dining room. Quinn followed her, glancing back at her two friends, who were still locked in their embrace. She smiled to herself and shook her head lightly; not even death could keep those two apart and it made Quinn wonder if she would ever have anything like that.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked as soon as Quinn was seated. "You look tired."

"I am," Quinn said, sighing. "But I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked. "I can make sure Santana keeps the noise down—well, I can ask Brittany to make sure Santana keeps the noise down, anyway."

Quinn smiled and shook her head. "I'm okay."

Rachel gave her a small smile back. "Promise?"

"Promise," Quinn said with a nod.

* * *

><p>Santana looked in on the turkey, making sure the outside wasn't getting too brown; she wanted this meal to be perfect for Brittany and she wasn't going to screw it up by having a burnt turkey. She knew she wasn't much of a cook, but the previous weekend, Brittany mentioned wishing they could all spend Thanksgiving together; the moment the blonde started pouting about it, Santana knew she didn't have a choice. Even now, she would do anything to make her girlfriend happy and if that meant spending all day in the kitchen to make the perfect meal, then she would do just that.<p>

After determining that the turkey was okay for the time being, Santana walked back over to the counter and grabbed the bowl of pumpkin pie filling. She mixed it a few more times and started pouring it into the awaiting pie crust when she heard the doorbell ring repeatedly. She waited to hear footsteps coming from the basement, but it didn't appear anyone was coming to answer the door.

"Someone make it stop!" Santana yelled when the bell rang another three times in a row.

After finally hearing the beep from the oven, she carefully carried the overflowing pie over and stuck it in. Santana rubbed her eyes and then set the timer; she really detested baking, but at least the Berrys had a huge kitchen and one of those double ovens to make this easier.

"What the fuck?"

Santana's eyes widened and she slowly turned around to find Puck staring at her with his mouth agape. The vampire stared back in surprise, neither of them breaking eye contact for several long beats.

"Hey, Santana, have you seen Quinn?" Rachel's asked as she walked up the stairs from the basement. "I think there is a good chance I just found the demon that took Noah's sister. It's called a Furl'iber—weird name. It tak—Noah!"

Santana and Puck finally both broke eye contact and were looking at Rachel; now Rachel was looking between them, seemingly speechless for the moment.

"I—Noah! What are you doing here!" Rachel all but shrieked.

"I rang the damn bell," Puck replied. "No one answered, so I checked and it wasn't locked, so I came in." Puck turned his eyes to Santana, but was still speaking to Rachel. "What the hell is she doing here? Last time I checked, she died."

"She—I—you shouldn't just walk into people's houses you know!" Rachel replied, putting her hands on her hips.

Puck rolled his eyes and then yelled, "Fine, but that doesn't change that I can see Santana standing right there!" He was frantically motioning toward the vampire. "I mean, what the hell, Rachel? I've been blaming myself for her dying and she's still alive."

"I wasn't aware you blamed yourself, Noah," Rachel replied.

"Quinn knew," he said, shaking his head. "She knew and she still let me go on believing it." Puck motioned to Santana again. "Q knows, right. She is living here with you, isn't she?"

"Yes, Quinn knows," Rachel quietly answered.

"Okay, you need to shut up and leave Berry alone," Santana said, finally speaking.

Puck and Rachel both looked at her in surprise and she figured it was because she had actually stood up for Rachel. Hell, it kind of surprised her as well. It's not that she liked the other girl or anything, but she had given her a place to stay despite the fact that she repeatedly threatened to kill her. She didn't know if Rachel was really forgiving or really stupid, but it actually meant something to Santana that the other girl gave her a place to stay. She had seen the way vampires lived—in movies anyway; she needed electricity, though, so she wasn't up to living in some crypt.

"Q's upstairs, asleep," Santana said, finally answering Rachel's original question.

Rachel nodded and then turned to Puck. "I think we may have found what took Abigail."

* * *

><p>Quinn jumped into the sewer with a splash; she cringed in disgust—both at the smell and the fact that some of the water had splashed onto her legs. She pulled her flashlight out of her pocket, where she had put it for safe keeping; the last thing she needed was to lose it in the disgusting water.<p>

Reaching behind her, she blindly grabbed for the map in the front pocket of her purple, argyle backpack—well, Rachel's purple, argyle backpack, but she gave it to Quinn to use since it was easier than carrying a duffle bag around the sewer. She shone the light on the map Rachel had drawn for her; the area wasn't too far away, but she had somehow missed it the previous two nights when she searched the place. She didn't know how Rachel did it—though she suspected Rachel had contacted Artie about more than just hacking into the Medical Examiner's computer—but she found a map of the sewer system in Lima. The description Rachel found on the Furl'iber was detailed enough that Rachel was about to deduce where it might be hiding.

She glanced up, making sure she was going in the right direction, and started walking. She was looking for a large area where several sewer lines intersected. Apparently the demon liked to live underground, in damp areas, but in fairly large spaces. Rachel explained that this area was the only one matching that description and considering Puck's sister was taken nearby, it was the only logical place for it to be. After looking at the map, Quinn was surprised she had missed it before, but the sewer was like a maze and she really wondered who the hell set it up the way it was.

Quinn was nearly at the point when she was supposed to turn right, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard a splash somewhere behind her. She pointed her flashlight toward the noise, but the light didn't reach far enough for her to be able to see what had made the sound. The sound of small splashes made her realize whatever it was, it was coming toward her; she didn't want to make any sudden movements in case it decided to lunge for her, so she slowly inched her hand toward her backpack, ready to grab her knife. Before she reached it, though, the producer of the noise came into view and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Puck, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

"Like I was going to let you come alone when my sister could be here," Puck said, walking up to her.

"I thought you were the thing," Quinn said, hitting Puck's arm, sending him back several steps.

"Chill," Puck said, rubbing at the spot.

"Go back," Quinn commanded.

Puck scoffed. "I'm not leaving you down here."

Quinn sighed; she knew that look on his face. It was a look that said he was determined and he wasn't going to do what she said no matter what. She didn't want to waste any more time arguing with him, so she didn't have much choice but to turn around and continue on. She really didn't know how she was going to explain any of this to him—so far she had avoided that conversation—but after this, she knew one more person was going to figure out her secret. Puck wasn't the first person she would chose to know, but despite their usual differences, she felt like she could trust him enough with it.

"This way," Quinn said, taking a right.

She pointed her flashlight down the dark tunnel, looking for the next turn; she spotted it several yards away. She continued following the map, stopping every little bit to get her bearings. The place didn't look far from where she dropped down, but there were so many twists and turns that a person could easily get lost. She was expecting him to say something, but Puck stayed quiet, following Quinn without question.

After the next turn, it was a straight shot to the room Rachel had circled for her, so she stopped and turned to Puck. "Listen—if you see your sister, get her and get out."

"But—"

"Don't argue with me," Quinn interrupted. "And don't ask questions."

Puck narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't say anything else; she knew he wasn't happy being told what to do, but she could deal with that later. Right now, her priority was getting Abigail out—if she was still alive—and making sure Puck didn't decide to be all heroic and get himself hurt. She knew it was unlikely that Puck would follow her directions, but she at least had to try.

"Stay behind me," Quinn instructed, pulling her backpack around to her front, and pulling out a knife and a short sword. "Here."

Puck looked at her curiously, but then shrugged and took the knife from her. "Kickass knife, Q."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Boys and their weapons."

"You're the one with the weapon bag," Puck pointed out.

"Touché," Quinn whispered.

Quinn paused for a moment, hearing a splash in the room before her; she stuck her arm out, hoping Puck would take the hint to still stay behind her. He did, but just barely; he was nearly pressed up again her back, looking over her shoulder. The splashing continued and Quinn held her breath, able to tell by the sound that it was going to come into view any moment. When it finally came toward the middle of the room, Quinn crinkled her nose in disgust.

"What _is_ that?" Puck asked.

"That would be what we're looking for," Quinn said.

"I don't see any tentacles," Puck said, looking at the thing.

The Furl'iber was pale, with milky eyes; its body shape almost looked human, but at the same time it looked far from human. It was a bit shorter than Quinn and was standing on two stubby legs; two lanky arms were hanging by its sides and one hand was holding something. It was obviously that it lived underground, rarely seeing the light of day.

It finally seemed to notice Quinn and Puck's presence because it turned to face them; Quinn cringed again, seeing the gaping hole, which she assumed was its mouth. Before either of them had a chance to react, the creature was emitting a high-pitched shriek, and something was shooting out of the hole in the middle of its face.

Now Quinn realized what Puck meant when he said it grabbed his sister with a tentacle; the creature had a ridiculously long tongue that wrapped around her ankle, knocking her off her feet with a splash. It started pulling her forward, but Quinn had held on to her sword, and brought the blade down, cutting the thing off of her. The Furl'iber shrieked again, retracting what was left of its tongue while Quinn unwrapped the rest of it from around her leg.

"Over there," Quinn said, pointing to the wall.

It was the only other thing in the room; there were several things that looked like cocoons and Quinn could only hope Puck's sister was alive inside one of them. She hadn't told Puck that because she didn't want to get his hopes up, but Rachel explained to her how the creature took things and saved them for later by wrapping them up in some sort of cocoon like contraption.

Puck scrambled over to the cocoons, taking the knife Quinn gave him, and carefully cutting them open one by one. As Puck was doing that, she looked around. The Furl'iber was on the ground against the opposite wall; Quinn cautiously walked over to the thing, but it just seemed to look up at her. She knew it was probably already dying, but she decided to put it out of its misery instead of letting it slowly bleed to death. Once she was done with that, she turned around just as Puck was pulling his sister out of the largest cocoon.

"Is she—" Quinn let the question hang in the air as Puck leaned down, pressing his ear against his sister's chest.

"Her heart is beating," Puck said, a smile breaking out on his face.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked into Rachel's house, throwing her shoes and backpack off the moment she stepped through the threshold. Luckily her clothes had mostly dried, but she felt disgusting with sewer water all over her. She had stuck around just long enough to talk to the police since she didn't want them thinking Puck had anything to do with it or it looking suspicious that he just miraculously found his sister, and then immediately went home.<p>

"Quinn?" Rachel called out, walking from the kitchen. "Is everything okay?"

"We got her back," Quinn said, smiling.

"That's wonderful!" Rachel said, stepping closer to Quinn before making a face and taking a few steps back. "Whoa."

"Thank you," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "I am aware that I smell."

Rachel nodded. "Why don't you shower? Dinner is almost ready."

Quinn nodded and hurried up the stairs, more than ready to get out of her clothes and take a nice, long shower. She was in there for nearly an hour, shampooing and washing herself repeatedly before she was fairly certain she no longer smelled. She quickly got dressed and pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail; when she stepped out of the bathroom, her stomach growled at the smells coming up the stairs. She didn't notice it when she came in—she could only smell herself then—but the house smelled wonderful and like a house should on Thanksgiving Day.

She bound down the stairs and into the dining room; Rachel was putting several dishes onto the table and looked at her, smiling.

"Perfect timing," Rachel said.

"It looks wonderful," Quinn said, looking around at everything.

"Don't sound too shocked," Santana said, carrying the turkey to the dining room table.

"Hey, you didn't burn it!" Quinn said, receiving a glare from the vampire.

"Is it time to eat?" Brittany asked, skipping in with a basket full of rolls.

"I think so," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde.

The four of them looked around and then sat down at the table; Quinn and Rachel were on one side while Brittany and Santana sat on the other.

"Shouldn't we say something before we eat?" Brittany asked.

"Like what?" Santana asked.

"Like what we're thankful for this year," Brittany said, shrugging, and then smiling. "I'll go first! I'm thankful that I still have you." She looked Santana in the eyes and placed her hand on the brunette's cheek. "I thought I lost you and I never want to be that sad ever again."

Santana smiled back and then cleared her throat, looking rather embarrassed. "I guess I'm thankful for second chances."

Brittany smiled even wider and patted Santana's hand. "Quinn's turn!"

"Oh, umm," Quinn looked around, trying to think of what to say. "I guess I'm thankful for second chances as well." She glanced at Rachel, who was staring intently at her. "If it wasn't for them, I would be without a family right now."

"How sweet," Santana mocked.

"Shut up," Quinn said, blushing.

"I'm thankful for you guys," Rachel said without prompting. "I've lost a lot this year, but I've also gained just as much. I think you're the first real friends I've had and for that I'm grateful. Yes, even for you, Santana."

Quinn laughed and raised her glass. "A toast then." Quinn smiled at her three friends. "To us—may we not kill each other in the upcoming year."

"I wouldn't count on it," Santana said, winking at her as the four of them laughed, clinking their glasses together.

It took Quinn a moment, but she cringed, realizing what was in Santana's glass. Sometimes it was easy for her to forget her best friend was a vampire—and then she would be brought back to reality. Like when Santana was sitting across from her, drinking blood from a wine glass. It amazed her how Santana could be so different yet so much the same. If she was being honest, the girl hadn't changed _that_ much and Quinn smirked at the thought, wondering what that meant about Santana when she was human.

"What?" Santana asked, narrowing her eyes at Quinn, but the blonde just chuckled and shook her head.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Q," Puck said the moment Quinn came to the door.<p>

She looked over her shoulder, at Rachel, who gave her a small smile and turned around, leaving the two of them alone. Instead of inviting him inside where Brittany and Santana could bug them, she walked past Puck, sitting down on the topmost step. Puck took the hint and followed suit, sitting down with a loud sigh.

"How is she doing?" Quinn asked.

"The doctors have her at the hospital for observation, but they say she's going to be okay," Puck said, smiling to himself. "They said they may only keep her there for a day, so mom hopes she can come home this afternoon."

"That's great," Quinn said.

"Look—I don't know what you are and I don't really care," Puck said, turning to look at Quinn. "You saved my sister and I owe you."

Quinn shook her head. "You don't owe me anything, Puck."

"I do," Puck said, looking away. "Like I said, though, I don't know what the hell all that was yesterday and you don't have to explain it to me." Quinn opened her mouth to speak, but Puck continued on. "You also don't have to tell me to keep my mouth shut; I'm not going to tell anyone anything—not that they would believe me, anyway."

"Thanks," Quinn said, relieved that her instincts about Puck were correct.

"I do have one question," Puck said, picking up a small pebble from the step below, and tossing it between his hands.

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, arching her eyebrow at him.

"Santana." Puck turned his head to look at Quinn again. "Why does everything think she's dead when I saw her at your house yesterday? We went to her funeral, Q."

"That's—complicated," Quinn said, shaking her head.

She didn't know how else to explain it to him; if she told Puck that Santana was a vampire, that would open up a whole other set of questions. She would have to explain everything and she didn't think she was ready to do that just yet. Enough people already knew her secret without adding him to the mix. She figured one day he would either figure it out himself or ask and she would probably tell him; he had seen enough that it would be hard to lie to him.

"Listen—I know you were blaming yourself for Santana, but I couldn't tell you," Quinn said, hoping Puck would understand. "I told you it wasn't your fault and I hoped you believed me because that was the best I could do at the time. No one can know she's still around because that will raise too many questions—questions none of us can really answer."

"Who else knows?" Puck asked.

"Me, Rachel, and Britt," Quinn answered. "And now you."

"So her parents—"

"They have no idea," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Puck nodded as he stood up. "Oh—I do have one more question."

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, looking up at him, and shielding her eyes from the sun.

"You and Rachel—" Puck wiggled his eyebrows.

"Are none of your business," Quinn said, standing up, and shoving Puck, who was laughing loudly, away.

"I think I know what that means," Puck said, smirking when he was done laughing. "I'm not an idiot, Q; I see the way you two look at each other. Every time you're near her, you look like you want to jump her. It's kind of funny watching Finn drool all over her; he doesn't even realize he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell with her."

Quinn rolled her eyes, trying to ignore Puck's comment. "Whatever."

"I guess what I'm saying is that if you won't go for this hot Jew, at least you're going for her," Puck said, winking at Quinn.

Quinn laughed lightly. "Thanks, I guess."

"Anytime," Puck said, winking at her again, and then turning around, and heading toward his truck.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe Sectionals are this weekend," Rachel said, her leg nervously bouncing up and down as she sat.<p>

Quinn looked at her and smiled. "It's be okay, Rach."

"No, it won't," Rachel said, standing up, and pacing around the choir room.

As always, they were the first ones in the room and they were waiting on everyone else to come in so they could continue rehearsing for Sectionals, which—as Rachel pointed out—were only in a few days. Once the brunette no longer had Puck's sister to worry about, she had started panicking about the competition and whether or not they would have enough people to even compete in it. They were still down four members even though Rachel had been relentlessly harassing anyone she could about joining.

"Rachel, honey, calm down," Quinn said, reaching out and grabbing the brunette around the waist, pulling her down onto her lap.

Rachel looked at her in surprise and smiled shyly. "I'm sorry; I know I can be annoying sometimes. Actually, let's face it, I'm annoying most of the time."

"You're not annoying," Quinn softly said. "I just don't want you to have a heart attack before you even graduate high school. I know how much Glee means to you, but you have to stop stressing about it so much."

Rachel sighed. "You're right."

Quinn smiled up at Rachel and then looked at who was entering the room and rolled her eyes. Finn was looking at them with a confused expression and she could only assume it was because of their current seating arrangements. Quinn had to resist the urge to smirk at him; she didn't want to seem childish and she knew Rachel wouldn't appreciate it.

"Hey, Rach," Finn said as he walked by.

"Hello, Finn," Rachel said, still looking at Quinn.

Artie, Tina, and Kurt all entered the room and Quinn finally relinquished her hold on Rachel. The brunette smiled softly at her and moved off her lap to the chair right next to her. Quinn immediately missed the contact, but she didn't feel like being questioned by half of the club; she could already feel several sets of eyes on her and when she look over her shoulder, Finn was still staring at her bewilderedly while Kurt had his eyebrow cocked and a slight smirk on his face.

"Are you alright," Rachel asked, putting her hand on Quinn's knee.

"I'm fine," Quinn said, sighing, and then giving the brunette a small smile.

Brittany came into the room, waving at Quinn and Rachel, and then sitting down on the other side of Quinn. Mercedes wasn't very far behind the blond and then, much to everyone's surprise, Puck came in with several other people.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" Finn asked, still looking confused.

"We're joining Glee club," Puck said, matter-of-factly.

There were three people with Puck; one was a Cheerio that Quinn didn't know the name of. Another was Mike, one of the other members of the football team. The third one she didn't know, but he looked like someone Puck probably threatened to beat up to be there.

"Really?" Rachel asked, excitedly jumping out of her seat.

Mike nodded vigorously. "I can't sing, but I can dance okay."

"Thank you!" Rachel said, throwing herself into Puck's arms.

"Gotta help out my fellow Jew," Puck said, ruffling her hair.

"We have enough members to compete at Sectionals!" Rachel said, staring directly at Quinn, and smiling. "We have to get started right away!"

Quinn smiled as she watched Rachel hurry over to the piano, where she riffled through the sheet music. When Puck nudged her she tore her eyes away from Rachel and cocked her eyebrow at him.

"You're really joining?" Quinn asked.

"I'm really joining," Puck said, shrugging.

"Why?" Quinn asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I told you—I owe you," Puck replied. "I figured the best way to repay you was to make your girl happy."

"How did you get everyone else?" Quinn wondered.

"Jessica—Jen—Jill—you know what, I don't know her name," Puck said, looking like he was trying to remember. "Anyway, I just turned on the Puck charm and she agreed. The dweeb I threatened to throw in the dumpster everyday if he didn't. Mike wasn't that hard to convince; he's always dancing around when he thinks no one is looking."

Quinn looked back at Rachel, who was chatting animatedly with Mike; she smiled, glad that Rachel was back to being happy. "Thanks, Puck."

When Rachel looked over and locked eyes with Quinn, she nodded her head, silently asking the blonde to come over.

"Don't mention it," Puck said, bumping shoulders with her

Quinn looked at Puck again and they exchanged a smile before she turned and walked over to join Rachel.

* * *

><p><strong>Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated and help to keep me motivated, so please take a few seconds to leave one.<strong>


	12. Jinx

**Okay, first off I am very sorry for how long it's been since I last updated. Last semester really sucked and I didn't have a lot of time to write between the two massive group projects that I had. When I did write, I ended up working on things that wasn't this. My Halloween one shot somehow ended up being a holiday story and then I decided to do my apocalypse fic, but I was on a time limit to get it done before Dec 21st, so I pretty much had to exclusively work on it.**

**I've been working on this like crazy the last five days, though, and ended up getting it done about a week sooner than I originally figured. I'm actually pretty much spending my whole break writing on this and Past Mistakes, so there should be at least one more chapter of this in the next several weeks as well as several updates on my other story. Hopefully I'll be able to write regularly again next semester, but it's my final one, so who knows how that's going to go.**

**miss t: This story will be 22 chapters, but there will most likely be a sequel (basically a second season) and even possibly a third if there's enough interest and I have enough story to tell.**

**archcanbsexy: Yeah, it's definitely going to get dark and dramatic again in some future chapters.**

**Tarillow: I actually already knew about Faberrycon and there's about a 90% chance that I'm going; I haven't registered for it yet, but I hope to in the next few weeks.**

**Well, enjoy…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12 – Jinx<strong>

"Spin right, not left, Finn," Rachel said to the boy, who still wasn't getting the dance correct. "Your other right!"

Finn huffed. "I'm trying, okay?"

"We have Sectionals in four days; I know most people are not very concerned about our competition, but we still need to be our best," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips.

Quinn tried to hide her smile; Finn was inept at dancing and even Rachel—who seemed to have infinite patience with people—was getting tired of trying to teach him the dance. Mike was a natural and had the dance down after the second time Brittany demonstrated, Puck was an okay dancer and at least had the steps down, and the Cheerio, who Quinn learned was named Crystal, was also fairly natural. Several of the other less gifted dancers were having trouble, but Finn seemed to be in a class all of his own; he was usually doing the opposite thing as everyone else and Quinn didn't understand how that was possible with as much as they had rehearsed in the last thirty hours. She almost felt bad for him, but then she would catch him staring at Rachel and the feeling instantly went away.

"I wish San was here," Brittany said, coming and standing next to Quinn. "She would be really good at this."

Kurt was nearby and must have overheard because he shot Brittany a look of sympathy. Even though Santana was probably in Rachel's basement at the moment watching some television, Quinn tried to look sad at the mention of her friend since she knew it would look weird if she didn't. Sometimes she had to remind herself that, to the rest of the world, Santana was buried in the ground and not walking around, still being a pain in the ass.

"I know what you mean," Quinn agreed, not knowing what else to say.

"Dude, watch it!" Puck said, touching his hand to his lip.

"I'll get some ice," Rachel said, turning on her heel.

Quinn and Brittany walked over to Puck, who had a busted lip; Finn was standing nearby, looking guilty, and Quinn could probably guess what happened. She was actually surprised he hadn't hurt someone already with as much as his limbs were flying around.

"I'm sorry," Finn quietly said, looking at his feet. "I know I'm not a very good dancer, but I'm really trying here. I don't even know how I hit Puck; I just lost my balance or something and accidently hit him with my elbow."

"Forget it, dude," Puck said, waving him off.

"Here you are," Rachel said, walking up the steps to the stage, and handing a bag of ice to Puck. "Put that on your lip to keep the swelling down."

Puck nodded his thanks and plopped down on the side of the stage. Rachel sighed, rubbing her temples, and walked to the side of the room; Quinn followed her, worried about how stressed she'd been the last few days.

"We'll get there, Rach, don't worry," Quinn said, hoping to calm the girl.

"I just don't understand how some people can see Brittany demonstrate the dance over and over and still not be able to do it," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I know I'm not the world's most gifted dancer, but it's just so frustrating. The group still hasn't learned the other dance and don't even get me started on our vocals."

Quinn couldn't help but smile; Rachel was so passionate about Glee and the blonde loved that about her. If she had been through as much as the brunette had been through in the past year, she probably would have completely given up her dreams, but Rachel was still had so much passion for singing.

"Rachel," Quinn said, putting her hands on the shorter girl's shoulder. "I promise we'll be okay; we'll work twenty-four hours a day if we have to, but we're going to win Sectionals."

There was a loud crash and Rachel closed her eyes. "I'm afraid to know."

Quinn looked over her shoulder and several people were huddled around something. "Just—relax. I'll be right back."

Quinn walked over, pushing Mercedes and Kurt aside to find Crystal on the ground, holding her arm.

"What happened?" She looked around, trying to figure out what might have happened, but there was nothing to give her any indication.

"She s-slipped," Tina answered.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, kneeling down beside the redhead. "Is anything broken."

"I don't think so," the girl said, flinching when Quinn touched the already forming bruise. "I don't even know what made me slip; I thought there must be water on the floor, but there's nothing."

Quinn looked around, not seeing any water either; it seemed weird that one of Sue's Cheerios would just slip for no reason, though, considering how much her Watcher put the squad through to prevent accidents such as this from happening.

"Maybe you should go to the emergency room," Quinn suggested.

The redhead shook her head. "I'll be okay; I've had worse."

"Grab an icepack," Quinn said, looking up at Kurt, who scampered away.

"Here," he said, returning a few seconds later.

"Make sure you keep it iced tonight," Quinn instructed and Crystal nodded.

"Maybe we should call it a night and get some rest," Rachel suggested, walking over to the group. "We're probably just tired and that's why these little mishaps are occurring. I want everyone here an hour early tomorrow morning; we're running out time and every minute of rehearsing is going to make us better."

No one really seemed happy about it, but everyone agreed to be there early the next day. Everyone quickly grabbed their stuff and left the auditorium as if Rachel was suddenly going to call them back, so they wanted to get out as fast as possible. When Mike and Artie were out the door, Rachel turned to Quinn and sighed.

"This is a disaster."

* * *

><p>Rachel's words the night before were still echoing in her head; she hadn't known the brunette to be so negative, but she was right—this was a disaster.<p>

Morning rehearsals had gone horribly. Half the club was late due to various excuses; Mercedes had never even shown up, but toward the end of rehearsals, texting Kurt, telling him that she had been in a minor car accident with her father. They were no further along learning the routine and Finn actually seemed to have forgotten everything he had already learned, so Brittany had to go over things with him yet again. After everything went so badly in the morning, Rachel demanded they all skip lunch and meet in the choir room. Everyone seemed even less happy about this than they did about arriving early and several people were now complaining loudly about how they were hungry. Rachel was ignoring all the complaints, though, and pushing on with rehearsals.

"I think he got it!" Kurt said, sounding very surprised.

Finn looked very proud of himself and Quinn refrained from bursting his bubble, so she simply said, "Good job."

"Thanks," Finn said, giving her his lopsided smile that she used to find slightly endearing, but now just found annoying because it was usually directed at Rachel.

"Okay, now maybe Brittany can work on showing us what she's come up with for our final performance," Rachel said, smiling for the first time all day.

Brittany clapped, probably happy at the prospect of getting to do something other than show Finn the same routine over and over. "Okay, everyone, watch me and follow along as best as you can."

Everyone stood around the room, watching the blonde demonstrate some fairly complicated dance moves; Mike seemed to have it nearly memorized after the first try, but it was obvious everyone else was going to need a bit of time. Brittany showed them the whole routine several more times and then asked them to try it on their own. Brittany and Mike were both walking around the room, helping the people who needed it the most—which meant Mike was now stuck helping Finn, who didn't even seem to have the first move down.

Quinn smiled at Rachel, who had her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth. She always looked like this when she was trying to concentrate extra hard and Quinn found it adorable; she tried not to stare too much at Rachel, though, because Tina kept giving her these looks like she knew what she was thinking.

"That's good, Mercedes," Brittany said, encouragingly. "Try doing it a little faster and with more bounce in your step."

Rachel groaned in frustration and Quinn walked over to her, putting her hands on the brunette's hips. "You need to loosen up; move your hips a little more."

"Thank you." Rachel leaned into her slightly and the blonde swallowed thickly.

"You're welcome," Quinn said, taking a step back.

She watched the rest of the Glee members to see how well they were getting it. Puck wasn't doing much but moving his hips suggestively in Crystal's direction, the nerdy kid that Puck threatened to join seemed too intimidated to move all that much, Kurt and Tina were dancing next to each other and looked like they were having fun, Mercedes was doing a little better with Brittany's direction, Artie was doing well considering he was stuck in the wheelchair, and Finn still looked lost.

"How's everything going?" Mr. Schue asked, coming into the room.

"We're getting there," Rachel replied.

"Looking good, Finn," Mr. Schue said, walking over to the boy, and clapping him on the back.

Quinn tried not to roll her eyes, but she was unsuccessful; it was so obvious that Mr. Schue was living vicariously through the quarterback. He seems to think Finn could do no wrong and constantly praised him even when others were doing much better than him. Mostly, though, Quinn didn't like their Glee director for how he treated Rachel; sometimes it was almost like he was trying to take her down a peg or two when he should be trying to help her dreams come true and encourage her in any way possible. Quinn could tell he didn't really like the brunette and often treated her unfairly because of it.

"This is awesome, guys!" Mr. Schue said enthusiastically. "I think we're ready for Sectionals!"

Quinn and Rachel exchanged a look; anyone with eyes could see they weren't ready for Sectionals. They were a complete mess right now, and while they might not be going up against the stiffest of competition, Quinn was still pretty sure they judges would notice if half the people were doing an entirely different routine.

"Well, regardless, we have a lot more rehearsing to do," Rachel replied.

"I'll leave you guys to it, then," Mr. Schue said, smiling.

"What planet is he living on?" Kurt asked.

"The delusional kind," Mercedes retorted.

"Yeah, if he thinks—" Kurt stopped and cleared his throat while everyone turned to look at him. "If he thinks—oh my god."

"What's happened to your voice?" Tina asked, walking over with her mouth hanging open.

"I—I don't know!" Kurt replied.

"Dude, you sound like Barry Manilow," Finn said, laughing.

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "I think you mean Barry White."

"Yeah, him," Finn corrected.

"I can't sing like this!" Kurt said, covering his mouth, and then running out of the room.

"Maybe we should get you to a doctor," Tina yelled after him.

Mercedes and Tina rushed after Kurt and Puck started laughing. Rachel rubbed her temples and walked over to the risers, sitting down in the nearest chair.

"It's not funny," Quinn said, walking over, and smacking Puck in the back of the head.

"Oww," Puck said, rubbing the spot.

"Okay, everyone meet in the auditorium at six this evening, got it?" Quinn demanded. "Someone let the other three know."

"I'll tell them," Artie volunteered.

"I'm starving," Finn said to Puck as they walked toward the door. "Do you think they still have food left?"

"You're always starving," Puck replied.

Quinn walked over to Rachel, sat in the chair next to her, and said, "It'll be okay."

Rachel sighed. "I hope so."

* * *

><p>Rachel and Quinn met in the training room as soon as the final bell rang; Sue had been reprimanding Quinn for neglecting her Slayer duties for the past week, so the blonde agreed to train today. She knew Rachel would rather spend this time rehearsing, but the brunette told her she felt guilty for pulling Quinn away from her duties and also felt bad she was neglecting her own training, so they both decided to train for a few hours before meeting up with the rest of the club.<p>

Rachel was currently using the punching bag while Quinn tried out some weird new weapon Sue had recently acquired. The weapon had multiple blades, going in several different directions, and Quinn was unsure of the best way to use it. She would ask her Watcher, but the woman wasn't here yet, so Quinn tried holding it in several different ways and hit the thick, wooden pole in front of her.

Quinn looked over her shoulder and noticed Rachel beating the punching bad rather roughly; the brunette was usually afraid to hit it very hard at all, but she really seemed to be going at it today.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Quinn asked.

Rachel stopped throwing punched and turned to Quinn, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Talk about what?"

"Whatever is bothering you so much," Quinn replied. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's about Sectionals."

Rachel sighed and leaned against the punching bag. "I'm worried about Kurt. What if the doctors can't figure out what's wrong with him?"

"They will," Quinn replied. "And even if they don't, he can just pretend to sing; at least he can still dance."

"I don't want this hurting our chances at Sectionals," Rachel said, picking at a spot on the punching bag. "It took us so long to get enough members to compete and now that we have twelve people, I feel like we can actually win this." Rachel sighed. "We've been through so much and I just want us to show everyone that we're not losers and we can make it to Regionals."

"We will, Rachel," Quinn said, walking over to the shorter girl. "This is just a minor setback."

Quinn really hoped she wasn't lying to Rachel, but she hated seeing the other girl so pessimistic; it was very unlike Rachel to be this doubtful. Quinn was going to make sure they won Sectionals if she had to physically drag everyone onto that stage, though; Rachel deserved this and she was going to make it happen.

"Well, well, well," Sue said, walking into the room. "If it isn't my pathetic excuse for a Slayer and the Lilliputian."

Quinn rolled her eyes; Sue was back to her old self. It was actually a little unnerving that she was so nice after Santana died. At least she knew what to expect from this Sue—though, she seemed to have lost her touch on the insults.

"I saw you and the band of misfit toys in choir room this morning as I was passing by and I have to say I'm really disappointed in you, Q," Sue stated. "I can't fathom why you would want to go from a team that has won five consecutive National championships to a group of ill-shapen delinquents that don't stand a chance of winning Sectionals." Sue shook her head. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have the Cheerios running a hundred laps and I have to spy on them."

Rachel started laughing as soon as Sue walked out of the room. "Sometimes I have difficulty believing she's real and not a character from some ridiculous television show."

"I know what you mean," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel's phone started ringing across the room and she ran over to the bench to grab it. Quinn walked over to the post and took a few swings at it, but the weapon just didn't feel right in her hand; she really just preferred a good old fashion stake or sword.

"That was Tina," Rachel said, walking toward her. "Kurt's doctor has run several tests, but they have no idea what is wrong with his voice; he doesn't appear to have a virus or any type of infection, but they've given him some medicine as a precaution. Nothing really appears to be wrong with him—his voice has just changed."

Quinn frowned. "That doesn't make sense. How could he go from his normal voice to _this_ is a matter of seconds?"

"I don't know," Rachel said, sighing. "But I think it's safe to say Artie is getting his solo."

* * *

><p>"Hey, guys!" Brittany said as soon as they left the training room.<p>

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Practice ended just a little bit ago, so I thought I'd wait on you guys," Brittany replied as she grabbed her bag from the nearby bench. "Oh no!"

"What?" Quinn asked, looking around in alarm.

"I forgot my book in Mr. Sanders' class," Brittany said, pouting. "He isn't going to be happy with me; I already forget to do one of my homeworks this week."

"You're in luck," Quinn said, dangling a key from her finger. "I just happen to have a key that will unlock every door in the school."

"You still haven't given that back?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"Oh no, I gave it back," Quinn said, smirking. "I just—made a copy first." Rachel narrowed her eyes in a disapproving way and Quinn held up her hands before she could say anything. "Reprimand me later; we're going to be late for rehearsal."

Rachel still looked like she wanted to say something, but she nodded without saying anything. The three walked out of the room and down the hall; Rachel and Quinn followed Brittany to the second floor, to her History classroom. Quinn made sure there were no janitors around before she unlocked the door, allowing the other blonde to run inside and retrieve her book.

"I can't believe you made a copy," Rachel said as soon as Brittany stepped inside.

"What if we need to get into the school?" Quinn replied. "It could be an emergency and we might not have time to go to Coach Sylvester's house to ask her for the key."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Fine, but if you abuse the privilege, don't think I won't tell your Watcher on you."

"You wouldn't dare," Quinn said, glaring back her.

"Try me," Rachel retorted.

"I got it!" Brittany said, skipping out of the room.

Quinn quickly locked the door back and looked at the time; they still had ten minutes before they were supposed to be in the auditorium to rehearse. Rachel always wanted to be the first one there, though, so they were actually running a bit late by the brunette's standards.

"Is Kurt okay?" Brittany asked as they walked toward the stairs. "Does he still have a frog in his throat?"

"He's okay, but yes, his voice is still weird," Rachel answered.

"Do you thin—" Brittany suddenly shrieked and fell down the last five steps, landing at the bottom with a loud thud.

"Brittany!" Rachel said, running down the steps alongside Quinn.

Brittany was clutching at her leg with tears streaming down her face when they reached her. She looked rather pale, like she was going to pass out at any moment. Quinn gently touched her leg and the blonde recoiled in pain. She had seen this before when one of the Cheerios fell of the top of the pyramid and knew her friend's leg was probably broken.

"We need to get her to the hospital," Quinn said, looking at Rachel.

"Is it broken?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded. "I think so. Brittany, do you think you can stand if we help you."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Brittany replied.

"I know it hurts, but we have to get you to the hospital, okay?" Quinn said, standing up. "Wrap your arm right arm around me and your left around Rachel; don't put any pressure on your leg."

Brittany nodded and did as Quinn asked; she and Rachel lifted the blonde, Quinn taking most of the girl's weight. They slowly started making their way toward the front of the building, taking one step at a time, since it was hard for Brittany to walk on only one leg. They had to stop several times along the way for the blonde to rest and once near a garbage can because she felt like she was going to throw up from the pain. They were just about to the front doors when they opened and Puck came strolling into the school; he stopped in his tracks when he saw the three making their way down the hall.

"What happened?" Puck asked.

"Brittany felt down the stairs," Quinn replied.

"Let me help," Puck said, rushing over to take Rachel's spot.

With Puck on the other side, the two practically picked Brittany up and carried her to Quinn's car. They maneuvered her into the back seat as gently as they could and Quinn ran around to the driver's side. She noticed other Glee members walking toward the school and sighed.

"Can you let everyone else know what's going on?" Quinn asked Puck, who nodded. "Rachel, are you coming to the hospital or do you want to stay here."

"I'm coming with you," Rachel said without hesitation.

"Puck, can you make sure everyone rehearses?" Quinn asked, turning back to him. "And I mean it; we only have a few days left and we can't waste an entire evening just because Rachel and I aren't there. Mike knows the routine pretty well, so ask him to take over for Brittany, okay?"

"Okay," Puck said, looking rather reluctant at being the one to be in charge.

"Thank you," Quinn said, opening her door. "I'll text you once the doctors check her out and we know something."

Puck nodded and Quinn hopped in her car just as Rachel got into the passenger side. Quinn looked over her shoulder, making sure Brittany was okay; the girl still looked a little pale, but at least she was alert. Quinn was a little worried she'd hit her head during the fall, which is one reason she was trying to get her to the hospital so quickly.

"Do you think they'll really rehearse?" Rachel asked as Quinn started the engine.

"Probably not," Quinn said, putting the car in reverse.

* * *

><p>It was fairly late by the time Brittany finally came out of the emergency room on crutches and a cast on her right leg. The doctor had told her she would have to keep the cast on for about six weeks, which was making Brittany really sad because it meant she couldn't dance during that time. Quinn and Rachel both felt sorry for the blonde and Quinn couldn't help but think of it as a huge blow to Sectionals, which Rachel was also probably thinking right now. The best they could do is let her sway in the background so they would still have their twelfth member or maybe they could find her a wheelchair over the next couple days.<p>

Surprisingly, when she called Puck, everyone was still at rehearsals; maybe the rest of them wanted to win just as much as Rachel did. Mike was trying to help Finn learn the routine while the rest of them were working on getting in sync and helping each other where they had trouble with certain moves. He said they were still a mess, but at least everyone was putting in their best effort.

Brittany wasn't very proficient with her crutches and Quinn was worried she was actually going to hurt herself again if she wasn't more careful. In was an ordeal just getting her into Rachel's house and Quinn seriously considered setting her up in the living room for the night, but Brittany wanted to be in the basement, with Santana.

The blonde was slowly making her way down the first few stairs and Quinn had her arms out, ready to grab Brittany if she needed to. She took the steps one at a time and seemed to be having a bit of difficulty, but she was managing it—just very slowly.

"You're home earlier than I figured," Santana said. "Does that mean Finnept finally learned his left from his right?"

Quinn knew Santana was going to be mad at her, but she didn't tell the vampire about Brittany's mishap. She knew if she did, Santana would come barging into the emergency room and she didn't want to risk someone recognizing her, especially because Santana's father worked at the hospital, so a lot of the workers there knew what she looked like.

"What the hell happened?" Santana yelled.

"Calm down, Santana," Rachel said, holding her hands out. "Brittany fell down the stairs at school."

"Is it broken?" Santana asked, rushing over to the injured girl;

Brittany nodded and then hobbled down the rest of the steps, making her way toward Santana's bed. Rachel helped her sit down and then grabbed a pillow to prop her leg up. The brunette then rushed over to the mini fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and brought it back over so Brittany could take her pain pills.

Santana scowled, turned to Quinn, and marched up the stairs. "How did you let this happen?"

"Me?" Quinn incredulously asked. "It was an accident."

"Leave Quinn alone, San," Brittany said as soon as she swallowed a drink of water.

Santana gave Quinn one last withering glare like she was personally responsible for Brittany's accident; she then turned, walked down the stairs, and went over to her girlfriend.

"Do you need anything?" Santana asked. "Are you hungry? Do you need another pillow or a blanket?"

Quinn watched as Santana fussed over Brittany; it was kind of funny seeing Santana like this, but she did always overreact anytime the blonde had so much as a cold.

"What the hell are you smirking at?" Santana asked.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Nothing."

Quinn looked at Rachel and nodded to the stairs, hoping she would get the message to follow her. She went upstairs and sat down on one of the stools, at the island; she heard the basement door close and Rachel joined her a few seconds later, sitting next to her. Quinn couldn't figure out why the brunette looked so calm; she was completely freaking out inside, worried that if one more thing went wrong, they wouldn't even have enough to compete.

"What is it, Quinn?" Rachel asked after Quinn remained silent.

Quinn took a deep breath. "Do you think we're having an awful lot of bad luck this week?"

"It does seem that way, but I wouldn't read anything into it," Rachel said, shrugging. "We've also had good luck; if Puck hadn't joined and brought along his friends, we would still only have eight members. This is just a setback."

"Why are you suddenly being so calm about this?" Quinn asked, putting her head down on the surface in front of her.

"I have decided to think positively," Rachel replied. "We are going to win Sectionals even if I have to sing every song on my own while the rest of the club simply sits on the stage. I refuse to lose this competition and I'm not going to let a little thing like Brittany breaking her leg or Kurt sounding absolutely ridiculous stand in my way."

Quinn smiled. "I think Rachel Berry is officially back."

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

"You've been so pessimistic lately, which is very unlike you," Quinn replied. "It's just good to see you back."

Rachel smiled back and then asked, "Do you think the rest of the club would be willing to meet in the auditorium at 5am?"

* * *

><p>After a 6am rehearsal—no one would agree to 5am—and rehearsing every break they got during the day, they were getting better, but still not as good as they needed to be. Even Quinn had to admit that Finn was getting better and several others had been improving as well. Brittany being unable to dance was a huge hit to moral. The blonde was doing what she could, though, and actually maneuvered around quite well on her crutches. She wasn't really supposed to be doing something so strenuous, but keeping the girl away from rehearsals was easier said than done; even Santana couldn't convince her to rest.<p>

"Can we take a break?" Mercedes asked, sitting down on the floor.

"I second that," Kurt chimed in.

"Okay, five minute break," Rachel announced.

Quinn walked over to the small cooler they had near the edge of the stage and grabbed two bottles of water. As she started walking back over to Rachel, she heard a weird, metallic, clinking noise from above her. When she looked up, one of the lights above the stage was dangling precariously. A second later, the light broke completely free and fell toward Quinn; the blonde jumped out of the way, just in time, and the light smashed to pieces on the stage.

Some of the glass shards flew onto Quinn, cutting her arms in several places, but luckily missing her face. The blonde looked at the fallen object in shock as the rest of the Glee members ran over to her.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked, being the first one to get to her. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Quinn shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Your arm is bleeding," Tina commented.

"It's fine," Quinn said, pulling her arm closer to her body.

"There could be glass in there," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn's arm and pulled it toward her to inspect it. "Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"Rachel, I'm fine," Quinn said, squeezing the brunette's hand. "Really."

"Who is responsible for the maintenance around here?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "That could have killed you! I'm really going to have to speak to Principal Figgins tomorrow because this is unacceptable. We shouldn't have to be worried about lights falling on us while we're trying to rehearse!"

"Maybe we should go to the choir room, instead," Artie suggested. "I mean, there's glass all over the stage now and someone else might get hurt if we stay here."

"I agree," Rachel replied. "Everyone head to the choir room."

Everyone grabbed their stuff from the sides of the stage and started walking toward the exit. Rachel grabbed both her and Quinn's stuff and wouldn't give them to the blonde when she tried to take it from her. Quinn rolled her eyes, though she found it sweet that Rachel was so concerned about her. The two, along with Brittany, were the last three in the choir room since Rachel insisted on stopping by her locker along the way to grab her first aid kit. She then meticulously cleaned and bandaged each cut along her arm even though they were already starting to close up on their own. It was one of the things Quinn liked most about being a Slayer—healing quickly.

"Okay, guys," Mike said, gaining everyone's attention. "I would like us to go over this as a group a few times, so we can see what we need to polish and make sure we're in sync with each other."

Everyone started shuffling to their places; Mike started the music and then walked around, watching everyone. He nodded a lot and threw out words of encouragement, sometimes asking people to either speed up or slow down so they would be in step with the rest of the group. When the music came to a close, Mike was smiling and clapping his hands.

"That was great," Mike stated. "Let's do it one more time with all of us, but I think we have it."

Mike pushed play again and then quickly ran over to his spot in the group. They went through the routine again and Quinn was relieved that Mike thought they were finally good enough. Other than Brittany, he was the best dancer she knew, so if he thought they were good, then the judges would think they were good.

Everyone cheered when the song ended and they managed to go through the routine without anyone messing up.

"Excellent, everyone," Rachel said as she beamed at them in happiness. "Now we need to work on our vocals and we'll be ready for Saturday."

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" Mercedes asked, groaning.

Kurt nodded emphatically beside her, but didn't utter a word; he had been completely quiet since his voice changed and Quinn sometimes forgot he was even in the room.

"We can't rest just because we have one aspect of our performance down," Rachel responded.

"It's almost nine," Artie noted. "My parents are starting to worry about me; they don't think we could possibly be rehearsing this much even though I keep reminding them that you're captain of the club."

Rachel scowled. "What does that mean?"

"It means you're a slave driver," Puck said, smirking.

Rachel sighed. "Fine, but everyone be here again at 6am sharp."

Several people cheered and everyone immediately grabbed their stuff and started filing out of the room. They walked to the parking lot as a group; considering how late they had been rehearsing, everyone with a car had been driving those without one home so no one had to wait around for their parents.

Quinn was walking to her car, Rachel and Brittany following, when she heard Artie say, "What is going on?"

The blonde turned around to see Artie going unnaturally fast in his chair; he had a look of confusion and worry on his face.

"Watch out!" Artie yelled as he went across the parking lot.

Mike turned around to see what was going on, but it was too late; Artie ran into him, knocking Mike down and overturning his chair in the process. Everyone ran over to the two; Finn and Puck were trying to help Artie back into his chair while Kurt and Mercedes were trying to help Mike off the pavement.

Mike cringed as soon as he was on his feet and then lifted his left foot slightly off the ground. "I think I hurt my ankle."

"I'm so sorry," Artie said, holding his right wrist with his other hand. "I don't know what happened. I was trying to stop it, but it was like my chair was possessed."

Mike tried taking a step, but just ended up hoping a bit and stopped. "I think I need to go to the ER."

"Maybe you both should go," Kurt said, then clearing his throat as if it was going to help his voice. "You can both fit in my vehicle."

Puck and Finn helped Mike hobble over to Kurt's massive vehicle and Tina pushed Artie. Quinn watched everyone go and rubbed her temples, wondering if anything else could possibly go wrong this week.

"I think I was wrong," Rachel stated.

Quinn sighed. "What about?"

"About us having bad luck," Rachel replied. "I'm started to think that maybe we're cursed."

* * *

><p>When Rachel woke up the next morning, she yawned and rubbed her eyes. She was still tired since they stayed up late waiting for someone to call about Mike and Artie's condition. Mike had a sprained ankle and Artie's wrist was bruised, but not actually sprained. They were both told to rest and take things easy for the next bit. Mike was also advised not to dance on his ankle, but he had quickly assured Rachel that he was not going to be following the doctor's orders; he was just going to wrap it up really well and hope everything would be okay. Rachel had been a little worried about Mike injuring himself even more if he went against the doctor's instruction, but Mike had convinced her he'd be okay and that he wanted to win Sectionals just as much as she did, so he was willing to take the risk.<p>

Normally Rachel went through her morning workout routine, but she didn't have time for that today. She had woken up late and now only had forty-five minutes before they were all supposed to meet in the choir room for vocal rehearsals. Now that their choreography was down, they really needed to work on the rest of their performance. Most of them were naturally better at singing than dancing, so improving upon their dance moves had been priority number one, but they still needed some work. She had immediately noticed that several people were slightly pitchy; others needed to project their voices a bit more, while a few others needed to project a little less, often overpowering some of the other performers.

She figured Quinn was already up since she heard the shower running in the hallway bathroom, so she bypassed her room and headed downstairs, to the basement. Brittany had stayed over again, worried about Mike and Artie; plus, Santana probably wouldn't have let her leave anyway since she seemed to want to keep a close eye on the blonde.

Rachel opened the basement door and walked down the stairs; she had her hand over her eyes, worried about what she might see if she didn't. She heard Brittany snoring softly, though, so she removed her hand, assuming everything was safe. The two were sprawled out on the bed; Brittany had the entire sheet wound around her and Santana was completely uncovered. Thankfully, Santana at least had her bra and panties on, but from what she could tell, Brittany didn't look like he was wearing anything.

She was slightly afraid to disturb the two, but if Brittany didn't get up now, they were all going to be late. So, bracing herself from the oncoming tirade from the vampire, Rachel gently shook the blonde. It didn't take much for Brittany to get up; the moment Rachel started shaking her, the blonde's eyes flew open.

"Morning," Brittany said, smiling.

"Good morning, Brittany" Rachel mouthed, but the words didn't actually come out of her mouth.

Rachel frowned and tried again, but she didn't make a sound this time, either. She kept trying to speak, but absolutely nothing was coming out of her mouth. Her eyes widened in panic; could she have laryngitis? She was perfectly fine last night, though, and she didn't think there was any way she would completely lose her voice in only a matter of hours.

"Did something steal your voice" Brittany asked, tilting her head, and looking at her curiously.

Rachel nodded vigorously and then pointed upstairs, trying to tell the blonde where she was going. She then dashed up the stairs and started walking to her room; inside, she pulled the small whiteboard she had on the wall, near her desk, and grabbed the marker from beside her monitor. When she heard the water turn off from Quinn's shower, she rushed toward the bathroom and pounded on the door. The blonde opened it a few second later, dripping wet, and wearing nothing but a towel. Rachel looked her up and down for a brief moment and then shook her head; she had much more important things to focus on at the moment.

She quickly scribbled out 'I lost my voice' on the board and held it up for Quinn to read.

Quinn frowned. "Completely?"

Rachel nodded and wrote, 'I can't make a sound. How am I going to sing!'

Quinn opened her mouth to say something, but Rachel was already furiously writing again, so she closed it. 'I need to get to the doctor right now!'

"Actually, I have another idea," Quinn stated.

* * *

><p>Since Rachel couldn't speak, she had to write her comments and criticisms down for everyone as she listened carefully to their singing. Quinn sat off to the side with a book in her lap and several others in the bag beside her, as well as Rachel's laptop. She no longer believed all their accidents and ailments were simply bad luck; she fully suspected they were either cursed or had a spell of some sort over them. It was the only explanation for so many things going wrong lately.<p>

Artie losing control of his wheelchair and Rachel completely losing her voice overnight were the last straw for her. Before that she might have chalked everything up to bad luck, but this was too much. It was also too big of a coincidence that this was happening the week before Sectionals. Now, she fully believed someone didn't want them competing, but she wasn't going to let that happen. That's why she was looking for anything that might explain why things were going so very wrong for the Glee club. She either hoped Brittany could reverse whatever it was or put a spell over them to counteract the negative effects.

Rachel wasn't the only person that had woken up that morning with something weird going on with their voice; Tina couldn't speak without stuttering every other word. She stuttered normally, but she could barely get a sentence out now. On top of that Logan, the kid Puck made join, now had a face covered in acne, Mercedes' hair was currently three times its normal size, and Crystal was wearing a neck brace after falling down her steps in the middle of the night. Finn was the only person that hadn't been injured or had something bizarre happen to him over the week; though, he was walking a little strangely, but Quinn wasn't about to ask what was wrong.

"Sup, Q," Puck said, kicking the sole of her shoe with his toe.

Quinn looked up. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Puck asked, sitting next to her.

"Reading," Quinn answered.

"Really?" Puck deadpanned. "Does this have to do with all this weird shit that's been happening all week? I mean, everyone is breaking crap and talking funny." He looked at Rachel. "Or not talking at all. Do you know what the hell is going on?"

"Not yet, but that's what I'm trying to figure out," Quinn said, sighing.

Puck lifted the front of her book to see what she was reading. "Spells and Their Counter Spells? So you think someone put a spell on us and that's why Kurt actually sounds like a dude Mercedes looks like she has a cat in her head?"

"I head that!" Mercedes said as she walked by.

Quinn waited until Mercedes was out of earshot before saying, "Yeah, something like that."

Puck nodded and then held out his hand. "You got another book?"

"Yes," Quinn replied, turning to grab another one from her bag, and then handing it to Puck.

Puck took it from her hand and opened to the first page. "What am I looking for?"

"Anything that sounds like what's been going on," Quinn replied.

Quinn tried to focus on the book in front of her, but it was hard when she was also trying to watch out for everyone. She was afraid something like the falling light would happen again; she was lucky, but someone else that didn't have her reflexes could have been killed by it.

"What about this one?" Puck asked, pointing to something near the bottom of the page.

"That's a spell to cause blisters," Quinn stated.

"Yeah, well, Finn has—"

"I don't want to know," Quinn interrupted.

Quinn shook her head, trying to get that bit of information out of her head. When she laid her head back on the wall, something in the balcony caught her eye; she wasn't sure what it was, but she definitely saw something move. She quickly stood up, dropping her book on the ground, and took a few steps forward. Whatever was up there now seemed to be gone.

"What are you doing?" Puck asked.

"I think someone was up in the balcony," Quinn replied.

Quinn decided to see if she could find out who was up there and started running toward the door. When she got into the hall, she heard a door slam and it sounded like it was coming from the entrance to the school. The door behind her opened and Puck and Rachel came running out behind her. She jogged to the front of the school and could hear that the other two were close behind her.

"Don't let that door make noise," Quinn whispered as she walked into the night air, not wanting to tip off whoever they were running after.

She peered around the side of the building, looking toward the teacher parking lot, where someone was making their way across the pavement. She didn't recognize the girl, but she definitely looked like a high school student. She was wearing dark clothes and had long, curly hair.

"Come on," Quinn whispered, heading toward the parking lot on the opposite side, where her car was parked.

The three made their way to her car as quickly as possible, trying not to be heard or seen along the way. When they finally got to her car, she pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the doors, letting them in. She waited for the girl to start her car, hoping she would be less likely to be seen. Just as the other car finally started up and pulled out of its parking spot, the door behind Quinn suddenly opened, causing her to jump in surprise.

"What are you waiting for?" Santana asked. "Follow the bitch."

Quinn frowned in confusion but did as the vampire ordered. "What are you doing here?"

"Brittany was worried," Santana replied. "I've been in the school, watching you all."

"That's not creepy," Quinn commented.

Quinn drove at a safe distance, hoping the girl in the other car didn't realize she had someone tailing her. They made their way across town and Quinn wondered where she was leading them. Eventually, the girl pulled into a parking lot and Quinn parked across the street so they wouldn't be noticed.

"You've gotta fucking joking," Santana said, looking out the window.

Quinn stared at 'Haverbrook School for the Deaf' sign in disbelief. "I second that."

* * *

><p>After sitting in Quinn's car, trying to come up with a plan, they eventually decided to get out and follow the girl into the school. Quinn didn't know what to do once they found her, though; they couldn't exactly accuse her of cursing their Glee club without looking like idiots. She could have just as easily been there spying on them since they were their Sectionals competition, after all.<p>

They made their way into the school, but they had no idea where the girl had gone or which direction they should even go in. Quinn looked down the right hall and then down the left, but she didn't see or hear anything to suggest which way to go. She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked to find Rachel holding up a sign asking if they should split up.

"Yeah," Quinn whispered. "Let's split up; Santana and Puck go left, Rachel and I will go right. Yell if you're in trouble or text me if you find something."

Quinn turned right and Rachel followed closely behind. The halls were a bit narrower than the ones at McKinley and—lucky for them—less numerous. There was really only one way to go and the two followed it, looking into the classrooms along the way. They rounded the corner at the end of the hall and found themselves standing in front of a set of stairs. They slowly walked up, rounded another corner, and were left staring down another hall where Quinn could see a dull light coming from one of the rooms. A moment later, Puck and Santana came around the corner on the other end.

Both groups started walking toward the middle, still looking in the rooms along the way. Quinn and Rachel got to the lit room first and both peered in. The girl from earlier was standing in the middle of the room with candles all around; he back was turned to the door, so Quinn couldn't see what she was doing, but she had a bad feeling it was nothing good.

"What the hell are we waiting for?" Santana asked as soon as she was beside Quinn. "It's just one girl."

Before Quinn could say anything, Santana was already barging into the room, so she didn't have much choice but to follow. Since the girl obviously couldn't hear them, she didn't turn around at the sound of the door opening and the four walking into the room. Quinn wondered how they were even going to communicate with her, but then she remembered Rachel had her whiteboard, so they could just write down whatever they needed to say.

They walked around to stand in front of the girl; she didn't look all that surprised that they were here and Quinn wondered if she knew she was being followed the whole time. She heard the squeak of Rachel writing on the board and then the brunette held up the sign, but the curly haired girl just smirked.

Rachel sighed and erased the message asking, 'What is all of this for?'

"I don't think she's gonna answer," Puck stated.

"I'll make her answer," Santana said, her face transforming into its vampire form.

"Dude," Puck said, jumping back after one look at the vampire.

Before Santana could approach the girl, other people started entering the room. There were twelve of them in total that entered and Quinn suddenly realized they had walked into a trap. She had no doubt now, though, that these people were the reason for everything that had been going wrong for the Glee club.

"Thank you for joining us," one of the people spoke as well as signed. "You're probably wondering why we led you here."

Quinn took the whiteboard from Rachel and wrote, 'Why have you been trying to hurt us?'

The guy laughed. "Isn't that obvious? We want to win Sectionals. We didn't think you were going to compete, so we didn't bother with you before, but then we were told you finally had enough members, so we knew we had to stop you. You're persistent, though, I'll give you that."

"Reverse it," Puck demanded, stepping forward.

"Give up," their leader stated. "You're not going to win Saturday and you're only going to make things worse on yourselves if you try."

Rachel grabbed the whiteboard from Quinn, wrote something, and held it up for the blonde. 'What do we do?'

"I don't know," Quinn whispered.

She was used to fighting monsters, not a Glee club full of deaf kids.

"I know," Santana said, seeing Rachel's sign.

"Santana," Quinn said, warningly

The vampire tried lunging for the nearest girl, but she stopped just shy of her and stumbled backwards. "Dammit!"

"What?" Quinn asked, watching the vampire walk back, scowling.

"They're human," Santana whispered. "I can't hurt them."

Rachel started writing again and held it up for everyone to see. 'Reverse what you have done and we will leave you alone.'

Quinn wondered why no one was attacking them; it was thirteen against four and one of the four couldn't even do anything. Just as she started thinking it, though, one of the people near the back of the room started chanting and the four got thrown in different directions. Quinn landed hard on her back and groaned. A few yards from her, Santana crashed into a desk and skidded to a stop near a bookshelf. The blonde tilted her head, getting a better look at the stuff on the shelf. It looked like shrine of some sort and in the middle of everything was a weird statue that sort of looked like a person's face, but not really. When she looked up, the guy she assumed was the Haverbrook club's leader glanced in the spot she had been staring.

"San, the statue," Quinn shouted as the vampire got to her feet.

Several of the Haverbrook students shouted, "No!"

Santana looked around and finally spotted what Quinn was refereeing to; the chanting started up again, but the vampire grabbed it just in time. She went flying again, crashing into the wall, but landed on her feet. When she stood up, she snapped the statue in two; a purple light flashed from the statue for a second and then disappeared.

The vampire threw the pieces on the ground and started walking toward the other Glee club; most of them now looked scared and some were already running out of the room. One by one, they started getting the hint and would flee from the room. The last three grabbed their leader, signing something to him before they all ran from the room.

As soon as they were the only four left, Quinn rushed over to check on Puck and Rachel. Puck was sitting up, rubbing his shoulder, but Rachel was still lying on the ground.

"Rach, are you okay?" Quinn asked.

"That hurt," Rachel replied, opening her eyes. "Hey! I can talk."

Quinn laughed and shook her head. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

><p>Throughout the night and the next morning, the members of New Directions starting calling Quinn and Rachel as they discovered their symptoms had completely vanished. Several people mentioned that it was like magic and Quinn had to not laugh. Even Brittany, who had the worst injury of them all, was completely healed. Santana and Quinn had to cut the cast off themselves because it would look too weird to the doctor if a girl with a broken leg miraculously healed in only a matter of days.<p>

"Okay, guys, here we go!" Mr. Schue said walking into the room. "I've been informed that the Haverbrook School for the Deaf has unfortunately had to drop out of the competition at the last moment, so the Jane Addams Academy will go first and then we're up next."

"I wonder why they would drop out," Tina said, frowning.

"Who cares," Kurt replied. "That just means there's only one group between us and Regionals."

"Maybe weird stuff was happening to them, too," Mike suggested.

"What, do you think something cursed the Glee clubs?" Artie asked.

"I bet it was those girls from Jane Addams," Mercedes chimed in.

"Like witchcraft or something?" Mike asked.

Kurt scoffed. "There's no such thing."

"What do _you_ think happened then?" Mercedes asked.

"I don't know," Kurt replied. "We were probably all just nervous about this competition and we were more careless than usual. I highly doubt our clumsiness was caused by witchcraft, though."

"And your voice changing, that was you being careless?" Artie asked.

"I don't know, okay," Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"Guys," Rachel said, holding her hands up, trying to get everyone to stop arguing. "I don't think it really matters why everything happened or why it stopped. All that matters is that we're here now and that we go out on that stage and give the best performance we can give. I have no doubt that we are going to win this; we've worked incredibly hard this week and I know we are all going to be great. We just need to keep focused and do what I know we're capable of."

"Rachel's right," Finn said, smiling at her. "We're going to go out there and we're going to win this. Nothing else matters now, so let's just keep our heads focused."

An announcement came over the intercom, telling them they had five minutes til they went on. Quinn smoothed her dress down, a little nervous about going out and performing in front of so many people. She was used to cheering in front of large crowds, but this felt different; she didn't want to let Rachel down or anyone else in the club. Everyone had worked so hard and it was all coming down to this.

"Hey, Rach, can I talk to you a second?" Finn asked, coming up to Rachel.

Rachel glanced at Quinn for a moment and then said, "Okay."

Quinn watched the two as Finn led them to the other side of the room where she couldn't hear them. She wanted to know what Finn was saying to Rachel, but it would look too obvious if she got closer. They were talking for far longer than Quinn liked and she was starting to want to pull Rachel away from the boy, but she didn't think the brunette would appreciate it very much. Plus, she didn't want to look jealous even if she was.

"Don't worry so much," Brittany said, walking up to her.

"What?" Quinn asked, looking at the blonde.

"Rach likes you, not him," Brittany stated.

"That isn't—"

"She wants you to take her on a date," Brittany interrupted. "She told me so."

"It's complicated," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"What's complicated?" Brittany asked. "You like her and she likes you."

Quinn sighed. "It's complicated because if people figure out what she means to me, they're going to go after her; more so than they already are."

Brittany shrugged. "I think they're going to go after her either way. It's sweet that you want to protect her, but you can't stop everything. You should just be happy now."

Brittany walked away, leaving Quinn alone again. When she looked at Rachel and Finn again, they were still across the room, talking. She frowned, even more curious to know what they were discussing for so long.

"Alright, guys, we're on!" Mr. Schue announced as he opened the door.

* * *

><p>"Turn right," Rachel instructed.<p>

Quinn put on her signal and followed Rachel's directions, having no idea where the brunette was leading her. All she knew was that the New Directions were having a victory party for the win at Sectionals, but when she asked Rachel where the party was being held, she said she didn't really know, but she had directions from Kurt. Quinn thought it was a little weird that they were going out of town, but she was trying to have a good time tonight and not worry about anything.

"There," Rachel said, pointing out her window. "Park in that empty spot right there."

Quinn did as Rachel instructed, but she still had no idea where they were other than the fact that they were in the next town over. She just didn't know why they were here, but she trusted Rachel, so she kept her mouth shut and didn't question it.

"Come on," Rachel said, opening her door. "We don't want to be late."

"Late for what?" Quinn asked, stepping out of the door, and shutting it.

Rachel turned to her with a smile on her face. "Okay, don't be angry with me."

"Why would I be angry with you?" Quinn asked.

"I may have lied a little bit," Rachel replied.

Quinn frowned. "What?"

"There is no party," Rachel confessed.

"So why are we here?" Quinn asked, gesturing around.

"We're here because I asked you about going on a date several weeks ago, but you never answered and I didn't want to wait any longer," Rachel replied. "I know you think you're protecting me, but I like you and I know you like me as well. If I asked you to come here with me tonight, you would have just said no, so I wasn't going to give you the option."

"Rach—"

"No, Quinn," Rachel interrupted. "I know the risks of even being your friend, but I'm willing to take the chance because you're worth it."

Quinn sighed as she looked at Rachel. "So—what are we doing on this date?"

"Really?" Rachel asked, perking up.

Quinn nodded. "Really."

Rachel squealed and launched herself into Quinn's arms. The blonde laughed, hugging the shorter girl, who eventually pulled away and took her hand.

"I was thinking dinner and a movie," Rachel answered. "I know it's a little cliché, but I wanted us to do something normal."

Quinn smiled to herself as they walked across the street, to the small movie theater. "Normal is good."

* * *

><p><strong>Again, sorry for the long time between updates. If you want to know my current schedule for when all my stories are going to be updated, I'm trying to keep my tumblr updated with that information. You can either find the link on my profile or just look me up under the same name as this one.<strong>

**As always, I love hearing your thoughts and comments, so please leave a review.**


	13. Truth

**Hazelstar: I don't think they're really plot holes. It was dark when Santana went to the school and Sue…well it's actually going to be addressed in the next chapter. As for Brittany, there was only one chapter between 12 and Brittany fighting for the first time; in 12 she had a broken leg and in 11, Quinn went alone (except Puck followed), so there was no reason for her to fight. **

**Omni-Obiter: Who doesn't need more Naomily in their feed? And thank you.**

**Dr. J's silent pet: You and me both.**

**thewordlessthinker: It's a little over halfway through; 22 chapters total.**

**Okay, I'm shutting up now. Enjoy…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13 – Truth<strong>

"You know, you didn't have to come with me," Quinn said when she saw Rachel look at the time on her phone for the third time in less than an hour.

Rachel sighed. "Sorry, this was just a lot easier when Daddy was away—or when he was here, but a lot less attentive."

Quinn nodded; it had been a lot more difficult since Leroy came back. Rachel had pleaded with him to continue letting both Quinn and Santana stay there; Quinn figured the only reason he actually agreed was because he felt bad for neglecting Rachel for so long. His 'few week' visit with his sister was actually closer to six weeks; he came back better, though, and Quinn could see how happy Rachel was to have her father back. Quinn had to admit, she actually liked the man she was beginning to get to know; he was actually rather nice and had the same sense of humor as his daughter.

Explaining why Santana was living in the basement was a bit difficult; luckily he had been such a hermit before he left that he had no idea Santana wasn't supposed to be alive, so Rachel just told him that she had come out to her parents and been disowned. Leroy was obviously sympathetic to this, agreeing to let her stay there as long as she needed. He didn't seem to mind the arrangement too much, but did joke occasionally about how he went from only having to deal with one teenage girl to three.

"Do you want me to take you home," Quinn asked.

"No," Rachel said, shaking her head. "He probably won't notice, and if he does, I probably won't be grounded for _too_ long."

Quinn nodded; she didn't want Rachel to get in trouble, but it was up to her whether she wanted to stay out here or not. Since Leroy had come back, it had definitely been more difficult for them to go out on patrol. They would usually stay out until their curfew that he set, and if they needed to go out longer, they would sneak out after he had gone to bed. They usually snuck out Quinn's window; it was on the second floor, but outside her window was the roof to the back porch, which she could easily jump from and put up the ladder for Rachel to climb down.

Quinn stopped walking and looked around; she thought she heard a rustling sound, but she didn't see anything around.

"What is it?" Rachel asked, looking at her curiously.

Quinn shook her head. "I just thought I heard something, but I don't see anything."

It had been a ridiculously slow night—they'd only slain one vampire all night—but Sue was insisting Quinn go out on patrol more often. All she wanted to do right now, though, was go home and crawl into her warm bed. It was mid-December, so the temperature had started dropping into the 30s and 40s, which made patrolling just that much worse. Plus, fighting vampires was a lot more difficult when she was constrained by her coat.

As soon as she started walking again, she thought she heard another noise, and paused again; this time, she also saw movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head, though, she still didn't see anything, so she took a few steps in the direction of the movement. She was heading toward a small grouping of trees, but the only thing she saw now were the branches swaying in the wind. She frowned as she looked around; she could have sworn she saw something moving near the trees. When it was obvious that nothing was there, she turned back to Rachel and shrugged.

"Maybe we should go home," Rachel suggested. "It is getting very late and we have to be at the bus by seven or Mr. Schue is going to leave without us."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me; is there any way we could just 'accidentally' oversleep?"

"I don't think Mr. Schue would be very happy with us," Rachel replied.

"Who cares," Quinn said. "It's not like he can just kick us out; there are barely enough people in Glee as it is and you are by far the best singer. He wouldn't stand a chance at Regionals without you."

"While I appreciate the compliment, we do have to go," Rachel stated. "Besides, it's just for the weekend; we'll be back Monday and maybe we can use this opportunity to get to know some of our fellow Glee members a little better. I actually agree with him; I think this trip will bring us all closer together, thus making us a better team."

Quinn looked at her incredulously, but she didn't feel like getting in a debate about it in the middle of a cemetery, so she said, "Okay, let's go home."

"Do you think—" Rachel was cutoff when she shrieked.

Rachel landed with a thud and Quinn ran over to her, only to be thrown back by the thing on Rachel. It looked like a woman, but had long, talon-like nails and red eyes that practically glowed in the dark. There were also weird markings on the creature's pale face, both on its face and down its arms, and when it hissed at Rachel, Quinn could see the woman's teeth were all sharp and pointy. Quinn jumped up and lunged at the thing, knocking it off Rachel; the creature jumped away from where they landed and hissed at her before flying away.

Quinn stared at the sky with her brows furrowed; she could no longer see the woman, who seemed to have completely disappeared into the night sky.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, quickly turning to Rachel, and rushing over to check on her.

"I think so," Rachel said, sitting up.

"You're bleeding," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel's arm.

"It's just a scratch," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Come on," Quinn said, helping the brunette up. "Let's get you home."

* * *

><p>"Come on, Quinn."<p>

The blonde groaned into her pillow; she just wanted to sleep for several more hours and wished Rachel would just go away. It wasn't fair; it was Saturday morning and their first day of winter break, but she still couldn't sleep in.

"If you want to eat before we leave as we have been instructed to do, you really need to wake up," Rachel said, and Quinn felt the bed dip. "It won't be so bad; you can sleep on the bus if you're still tired.

Quinn sighed and turned over, looking at Rachel. "Remind me again why we have to do this."

"Because it's for the betterment of Glee," Rachel stated.

Quinn scrunched her face. "Try again."

"Because I'll be there," Rachel said, smiling down at her.

"I meant a good reason," Quinn said, trying to hide her smirk.

"I resent that," Rachel said, smacking her side. "Fine, stay here by yourself—or more accurately, with Santana. The rest of us will be going and having a lovely time."

Rachel stood up to leave, but Quinn reached out, grabbing her around the middle, and pulled her onto the bed. "I'm sorry; I just really don't want to have to spend time with some of those people."

"They're not that bad," Rachel replied.

Quinn scoffed. "I'm sorry, but if I have to listen to Mercedes bitch one more time about not getting a solo, I'm going to tape her mouth shut—ditto for Kurt. Not to mention every time Finn opens his mouth, I really want to punch him."

"Kurt and Mercedes are—"

"Bitchy," Quinn interrupted.

Rachel sighed. "They're just ambitious and like the spotlight as much as I do, so when they don't get it they—"

"Bitch," Quinn stated.

"Fine, yes," Rachel said, scowling.

Quinn laughed as she watched Rachel do her best pout; she wanted to lean down and kiss the pout off her face, but stopped herself. Things had been a little awkward since their date and neither seemed to know where their relationship was at the moment. They had only been out the one time, so they weren't exactly dating, but things had definitely changed between them. Sometimes they would be extra affectionate with each other; other times, though, they just didn't seem to know how to act around one another and that's when things became awkward.

"Where did you go?" Rachel asked, reached up, and putting her hand on Quinn's cheek.

Quinn shook her head, smiling, and motioned to Rachel's arm. "How is your arm doing today?"

"It's fine," Rachel replied, shrugging. "Don't change the subject."

Quinn laughed. "Didn't you tell me we were going to be late if we didn't get ready?"

"Right," Rachel said, sitting up. "I'll go make breakfast while you shower."

Rachel hurried away and Quinn got out of bed, stretching her arms above her head. She was a little sore from the previous night, but it wasn't as bad as usual since it was a fairly lackluster night. She walked across the hall and hopped into a hot shower, hoping the heat would make her feel a bit better. By the time she stepped out, she could already smell whatever Rachel was cooking, and her stomach growled. She quickly put her clothes on and threw her hair up in a messy ponytail, not bothering to dry it, before heading out and down the stairs.

Rachel and Leroy were both in the kitchen; Rachel was flitting around, fixing pancakes and Leroy was sitting at the island, drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper. Leroy smiled at her as she walked in and gave her the section of that paper that he was finished with; it was something they had been doing since he came back since Quinn liked to keep up with anything strange going on in Lima. Rachel used to be the one to do it, but now she usually fixed breakfast in the morning, so Quinn started checking the news out.

"Anything interesting?" Rachel asked as she put a plate of pancakes in front of her father.

"I don't know what's happening to this town," Leroy said, shaking his head.

Rachel and Quinn locked eye for a moment before the brunette cleared her throat and said, "It's not that bad, is it?"

The kitchen door opened and Santana walked in, stopping when she saw everyone looking at her. After a moment, though, she stepped the rest of the way in and shut the door behind her.

"You're cutting it a little close," Rachel commented.

"I was at B's," Santana said, shrugging.

"Are you hungry?" Leroy asked.

"No, I ate before I left Brittany's," Santana lied.

Santana headed for the basement and Quinn stood up to follow her. When Quinn got to the bottom of the steps, the vampire was lying on her bed with the television remote in her hand.

"You know, you should be a little more careful around Rachel's dad," Quinn said.

Santana shrugged. "What's he going to do, ground me?"

"Probably," Quinn replied. "Will you do me a favor while we're gone? Something attacked Rachel last night and we don't have time to do the research because we have to go on this stupid trip."

"What makes you think I'll do that?" Santana asked.

"I'll just casually mention it to Brittany," Quinn stated.

Santana narrowed her eyes. "Fine—bitch."

"Thank you," Quinn said, smiling.

"Quinn, your pancakes are going to get cold!" Rachel yelled down the stairs.

Santana smirked at her. "Wouldn't want to miss Berry's pancakes, would you?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I'll write down the information before we leave."

* * *

><p>As Quinn drove to school, she cursed Mr. Schue in her head. Why their teacher thought it would be a good idea to make them all go to a cabin to 'bond', she had no idea; it sounded like a terrible idea to her. Someone was probably going to get hurt—preferably Finn and she'd probably be the one doing it if he didn't stop staring at Rachel.<p>

She sighed as she brought her car to a stop; most of their fellow Glee members were already there, mostly with varying degrees of annoyance on their faces. She took comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one that was disgruntled about having to go on this trip. Brittany and Mike were actually the only two that looked happy at all; then again, they were both perpetually happy, so they didn't really count.

"Are you ever going to get out of the car?" Rachel asked, taking Quinn's hand.

She sighed again and put her hand on the door. "Do I have to?"

"You're being awfully dramatic, and that's coming from me, the queen of drama," Rachel said, smiling softly at her.

Quinn nodded and opened the door, stepping out into the cold, morning air. The sun still hadn't rose, so it was still dark, but the parking lot was illuminated by streetlights. Quinn walked around to her trunk and unlocked it, grabbing her and Rachel's bags out of it. Rachel shut the lid for her and Quinn shouldered both of their bags and carried Rachel's second bag in her hand.

"Hey, guys!" Brittany called to them, waving.

"Hello," Rachel called back.

As they walked over to the other group, Rachel took Quinn's hand again, which surprised the blonde. Her first instinct was to let go since they were in public, but it felt nice having Rachel hold her hand. She'd never been one for public displays of affection with Finn while they were dating, but she didn't really like holding his hand. She always told herself that it was because his hands were so rough and overly large, but really, it was just the wrong hand.

Quinn looked around at the group; only Mercedes, Finn, and Puck hadn't made it yet, but they still had five minutes, and everyone knew Puck wasn't on time for anything. When she looked at Kurt and Tina, the boy had his eyebrow raised, staring at the conjoined hands, and Tina had a small smile on her face. Instead of releasing Rachel's hand, though, Quinn just looked away, trying to ignore the fact that they were staring at her.

She heard the sound of a vehicle approached and turned around to see Finn's truck pulling into the parking lot, with Puck in the passenger seat. By the time they started exiting the truck, Mercedes's dad pulled in as well and there were several mumbles about people being late and finally getting to leave.

"Alright, it looks like we're finally all here," Mr. Schue said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Let's get on the bus and get this trip started!"

There were a few cheers, but mostly grumbles as everyone filed onto the bus. Rachel sat down a few seats from the front and grabbed Quinn, dragging her into the seat with her. Quinn threw their bags in the seat in front of them and then sat down next to Rachel. Brittany sat just behind them while Kurt and Mercedes sat across from them, much to Quinn's dismay.

"I think this little trip will be fun," Rachel suddenly said, putting her hand on Quinn's shoulder.

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, so cheer up and think about all the fun we're going to have," Rachel replied. "We can play games and enjoy nature; plus, you and I get to share a room for the weekend."

Quinn's eyebrows rose and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Kurt's head whipped in their direction. She didn't say anything, though, as Mr. Schue boarded the bus after loading Artie. The bus started up and Quinn looked around; half the kids on the bus were already asleep. Puck was sprawled across the aisle, taking up both sides in the back of the bus, and Finn was already drooling against the window. Quinn scrunched her nose when she saw this and turned back to the front to stare out the window.

"What games do you think we'll play this weekend?" Brittany asked, putting her chin on the back of their seat. "I wish I'd been able to bring Lord Tubbington; he's great at Scrabble. San wouldn't let me put him in my bag, though."

Quinn cleared her throat and looked over to make sure Kurt and Mercedes hadn't heard Brittany. "I don't know, Britt."

"Maybe we can play something like Truth or Dare," Rachel suggested. "I've always wanted to play and I think it could be quite fun, don't you?"

Brittany clapped her hands. "I'm with Rachel; we should definitely play that."

"It's settled then," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn sighed; Truth or Dare with Puck was definitely not her definition of fun, but if Rachel was determined to play, then she would too. If nothing else, she would be there to make sure Finn didn't get anywhere near Rachel.

* * *

><p>When the bus finally came to a stop, everyone stared out the window at the cabins. Quinn was pleasantly surprised by them; she was expecting something a bit more rustic, but they actually didn't look bad. It gave her hope that maybe this wouldn't be quite as terrible as she was anticipating.<p>

Everyone started grabbing their stuff and scrambled off the bus as soon as Mr. Schue opened the door. Quinn grabbed her and Rachel's bags and smiled at Mike as he paused, motioning for her to go in front of him

"Need any help with those?" he asked.

"I've got it," Quinn replied. "Thanks."

Quinn walked down the steps and gathered with everyone else next to the bus as their teacher waited for everyone to exit. Puck was the last one off having just woken up after sleeping the whole bus ride there.

"Okay, guys, we have two cabins, so girls in one and boys in the other," Mr. Schue announced. "I will be chaperoning the guys and Miss Pillsbury will be with the girls. There are four rooms per cabin, so that means two to a room. No going off on your own and no doing anything illegal; this means no alcohol." He looked at Puck. "Curfew is nine o'clock, which means you must be in your own cabin at this time, and lights out will be at midnight. I don't want to hear any complains about this and I'm trusting you all to follow these rules, as are your parents who gave their permission for you to be here."

There were a few grumbles, mostly from Puck, and the girls started heading toward the cabin on the left, so the boys started walking toward the other one.

"Kurt, with the boys," Schue stated, and Kurt scowled but began walking the other way.

Quinn walked into the cabin and was immediately struck with how homey the place looked; the colors were rich and dark and the whole area was open. There were several plush couches in the living room area and a large table between the living room and kitchen. There was a set of steps on one side of the room and Quinn assumed they led to the bedrooms.

"Everyone make yourselves at home," Emma said. "The bedrooms are upstairs; one has a bathroom in it, so I'll let you decide amongst yourselves who gets that one. I will be staying in the bedroom down here, so if you need anything, just come and knock on my door."

Mercedes and Tina both rushed for the stairs and Quinn had no doubt who was getting the one with the bathroom. It looked like Brittany was going to be sharing a room with Crystal since Rachel had already said they were going to be rooming together. When Quinn went up the stairs, she walked past the first two rooms, which were already occupied, so she headed for the last door on the left. Rachel was inside, already looking around, but turned toward her when she dropped their bags on the ground.

"Thank you for carrying those," Rachel said, smiling at her.

Quinn looked around the room and the first thing she noticed was that there was only a full size bed; she was really expecting twin beds or at least a larger bed than the one in the room. She sighed lightly and looked at Rachel, who was already rifling through her bags and putting her clothes in the drawers. The brunette didn't seem all that concerned that they were going to be sharing a bed, so Quinn was just going to have to try to not think about it, either.

Normally she wouldn't care—they'd shared a bed before—but now that they had gone on a date, she was a little more nervous about it. She didn't even really know why she was so apprehensive, but things were different between them now—or at least they felt different to Quinn.

"Are you going to unpack or would you like me to do it for you?" Rachel asked.

"I'll do it later," Quinn said, sitting down on the bed, and bouncing on it a little. "At least the bed is comfortable."

"This place is quite nice," Rachel said as she hung up a few sweaters. "It's not quite as nice as any of the places I suggested to Mr. Schue, though."

"You suggested places?" Quinn asked, amused.

"Of course," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded and laughed lightly. "Of course you would.

"Are you saying there is something wrong with that?" Rachel asked, turning around, and putting her hands on her hips.

"No, it's just very—you," Quinn said, smiling.

"I don't know how to take that," Rachel said, furrowing her brows.

"Hey, guys," Brittany said, walking into the room.

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, closing the closet door, and shutting the dresser drawer.

"Girls!" Miss Pillsbury's voice said, coming from the hall.

The three walked out of the room and found the guidance counselor near the stairs. Mercedes and Tina popped their heads out of their room and Crystal joined them in the hall.

"I thought it might be nice to do a bit of exploring once we get settled in," the redhead said.

"We're ready!" Brittany said, bounding toward her.

"Well, alright then," Emma said, looking a bit alarmed. "Everyone make sure you bundle up because it's supposed to start snowing soon."

Quinn sighed; she didn't want to go 'exploring', but she was trying to look on the bright side—at least she had the weekend off from fighting monsters and she was with her friends.

* * *

><p>Their exploration actually turned into them getting lost as they tried to make their way to town, but they eventually got there. The town wasn't much, though; just some small shops and few restaurants. They didn't stay there long, opting to go back to the cabin since most of them were tired by the time they made it to the town. When they got back, most of them took naps before going out to eat for lunch with the whole group. Since the guys hadn't been to town yet, they wanted to look around even though the girls told them there wasn't really anything to look at.<p>

It was midafternoon when they got back to the cabins, and Mr. Schue thought it would be a good time to have one of his ridiculous bonding activities. He would ask them random questions and everyone would put their answer in a hat; they then took turns pulling the answers out and had to guess who wrote it. This went on for far too long and Quinn had never been happier than when he said they were done. They were all in the girls' cabin and everyone was getting hungry, so Artie grabbed the phone to order some pizzas for everyone, and Brittany suggested playing a game.

As they waited on the pizza, they started playing Apples to Apples, which was a huge mistake; several of the people were way too competitive, which led to many arguments while the rest of them didn't really care. Rachel won the first game and Quinn figured it was mostly because people didn't like to argue with her or, as in Puck's case, just chose her card to get her to shut up.

"Dude, that better be the pizza," Puck said, throwing his cards down, and jumping up when there was a knock at the door.

Finn jumped up too and Quinn just rolled her eyes because neither of them took the money, which was sitting on the end table, so she grabbed it and followed. Puck was checking his pockets when she got to them and Finn was holding the boxes, while the delivery boy waited on him.

"Here," she said, handing the money to the young teen.

"Thank you," he squeaked, blushing at the sight of Quinn.

Puck smirked as the delivery boy ran off. "I'm pretty sure if you flirted with him, we could have gotten these things for free."

Quinn rolled her eyes and grabbed the top box from Finn, which had Rachel's salad resting on top. The pizza place didn't have any vegan friendly options, so the brunette was stuck eating her second salad of the day, which she would probably be limited to the entire trip. As they walked into the living room, everyone jumped up, scrambling to grab a slice of pizza. Quinn just sighed, walked to the kitchen, and grabbed a roll of paper towels since it was obvious no one was going to bother with using a plate. She threw the roll into the middle of the group and sat down, grabbing a slice from the nearest box.

"Are we going to continue?" Rachel asked, motioning to the game.

"Later," Puck said through a mouthful of food.

"Where did Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury go?" Artie asked, looking around.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I have a few guesses."

"Eww," Mercedes said. "Don't ever tell me what those guesses are."

"I think it's kind of sweet," Tina replied.

"Sweet?" Mercedes asked. "He's married."

"Yeah, to a crazy woman," Kurt commented. "I went in to Sheets-N-Things a few weeks ago and when I mentioned I was in Glee, she started ranting about how it was destroying her marriage and how us kids were ruining her life."

Artie laughed. "What'd you do?"

"I turned and practically ran out of the store," Kurt admitted.

Quinn shook her head, smiling, and stood up, looking down at Rachel. "Do you want another bottle of water?"

"Yes, please," Rachel said, looking up at her and smiling.

"I can get it," Finn said, jumping to his feet.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Sit down."

"But I want to get it for her," Finn replied.

"Did you ever think that maybe she doesn't want you to?" Quinn asked, annoyed.

"I'm just trying to be nice," Finn replied.

"Dude, take a hint," Puck said.

"What are you talking about?" Finn asked.

Quinn ignored their bickering and walked toward the kitchen; she grabbed a bottle of water and a Diet Coke for herself. When she turned around, Rachel was standing in the doorway.

"Jesus," Quinn said, jumping, and then laughing lightly. "You scared me."

Rachel smiled and walked toward her. "Sorry."

"I thought I was bringing you your water," Quinn said, watching Rachel.

"I know, but I just wanted to thank you," Rachel replied.

Quinn frowned. "For what?"

"For trying to get Finn to understand that I'm not interested in him," Rachel stated.

"Oh, I—"

Rachel leaned in, cutting her words off when she pressed her lips to Quinn. The blonde's eyes widened in surprise; they had only kissed a handful of times and usually there was a reason for it—death, possession, first date—so the fact that Rachel was kissing her here and now was unexpected. As soon as the initial shock wore off, Quinn put her hands on Rachel's waist and started kissing her back. She jumped back, though, when there was loud laughter in the living room and she realized anyone could come into the kitchen at any moment.

Quinn cleared her throat. "You're welcome."

Rachel laughed and grabbed the bottle of water from her hands. "Now I feel like I should be thanking you again."

Rachel gave her a quick peck on the lips and then turned around. Quinn just stared at Rachel as she walked off, having no idea what just happened.

* * *

><p>Quinn opened her eyes and looked at the clock beside the bed; it wasn't seven o'clock yet and she tried to close her eyes to fall back asleep, but she really needed to pee. Sighing, she stood up and walked across the hall to the bathroom. She smacked her shoulder on the doorframe as she walked into the room and tried not to curse out loud. This was why she hated staying in places she didn't know; she almost always ended up hurting herself in one way or another.<p>

When she came back into the bedroom, she crawled into bed, and snuggled into her pillow. She was lying there a few minutes when she quickly opened her eyes and reached her hand out, feeling for Rachel. She looked up when she realized Rachel wasn't beside her and the brunette's side wasn't even warm. She frowned, trying to remember if Rachel was there when she got up, but she was too sleepy to have noticed.

"Rach?" she asked, rubbing her eyes, and looking around the dark room.

When the other girl didn't respond and it was obvious she wasn't in the room, Quinn stood up and walked back to the door, poking her head into the hall. The brunette wasn't there either, though, so Quinn shuffled down the hall; she thought about looking into the other rooms, but it didn't make any sense for Rachel to be there and she didn't want to wake everyone else. She headed down the stairs and could hear the television on in the living room, but when she reached the bottom of the stairs, it was Tina that was sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Tina, have you seen Rachel?" Quinn asked.

"No," Tina said, looking over her shoulder. "Isn't she upstairs with you?"

"She wasn't in bed when I woke up," Quinn said, frowning. "How long have you been down here?"

Tina shrugged. "Maybe an hour; I woke up and Mercedes was snoring, so I couldn't really fall back asleep. I got tired of laying there, so I figured I would come watch some cartoons like I did when I was little."

"Thanks," Quinn said, walking past Tina.

She wondered where Rachel could possibly be; it was possible that she slipped past Tina without the other girl noticing, so Quinn walked to the kitchen. She wasn't in there, though, so Quinn walked back into the living room and opened the sliding door to the backyard. When she stepped onto the deck, she shivered, and crossed her arms over her chest; it was freezing out and all she had on was a pair of pajama pants and a thin t-shirt.

"Rachel?" Quinn loudly said, but not too loudly because she didn't want to wake anyone else up. "Rach!"

There was no response and the only sound was from the breeze making the wind chimes tinkle; Quinn sighed and walked back in, closing and locking the door behind her. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to try to warm up, and when she walked further into the living room, she heard the front door shut. She looked to the other side of the room and Rachel was standing there, pulling off her coat. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief that she had found Rachel, but then huffed in annoyance that the brunette had disappeared to begin with, making her worry.

"Where have you been?" Quinn asked, walking over to the other girl.

Rachel looked a little alarmed and jumped at the sound of her voice. "I'm sorry; I woke up and couldn't sleep, so I thought I would go for a walk."

"A walk?" Quinn asked. "When it's dark and freezing and without telling anyone?"

Rachel shrugged. "I apologize."

"You, of all people, know how dangerous it can be at night," Quinn whispered, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Tina was still occupied by the TV.

"I'm sorry," Rachel repeated. "I'm okay, though, and I honestly didn't think you would wake up and worry about me, so I didn't think there was any point in leaving a note." Rachel put her arms around Quinn's neck. "I won't do it again, okay?"

"Where did you even walk to?" Quinn wondered.

"Just—around," Rachel answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Wow, you girls are up early," Emma suddenly said.

Rachel removed her arms from around Quinn's neck and started walking toward the couch Tina was sitting on. "Couldn't sleep."

"Same here," Tina said.

"Couldn't you sleep either, Quinn?" Miss Pillsbury asked, looking at the blonde.

"No," Quinn lied.

"Well, maybe everyone else will be up soon," Emma cheerfully said. "Would you girls like to help me with breakfast?"

"Sure," Rachel said, heading toward the kitchen.

"Okay." Quinn shrugged and followed Rachel.

She was still tired, but it looked like she no longer had the option of going upstairs and going back to sleep. When she walked into the kitchen, Rachel was already pulling stuff out of the refrigerator. Quinn sighed and shook her head; she didn't know what had gotten into Rachel this weekend, but it wasn't like her to be so careless, and she wondered what was going on with the brunette. She was about to ask her, but Tina and Miss Pillsbury walked into the kitchen, so Quinn shut her mouth and went to working on breakfast.

* * *

><p>Quinn was lying on the couch, fighting sleep, when her phone started vibrating in her pocket, making her jump; when she pulled it out, she saw 'Berry House' on her screen.<p>

She hit accept and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"I really need a damn phone."

"Hold on," Quinn said, jumping up, and walking toward the sliding door.

"What if I don't want to hold on?" Santana asked. "I'm the one doing you a favor and now you're making me wait when I have much better things that I could be doing."

Quinn rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her. "What is it, Santana?"

"First things first," Santana stated. "I need my own fucking phone. I've been waiting all damn morning for Berry's pop to leave, so I could call your ass."

"So get a job," Quinn replied and there was silence over the phone. "I'm sorry—what did you find?"

It was the only logical reason Santana was calling—unless she was doing it just to annoy her—and she didn't want to anger the vampire too much because she wouldn't hesitate to hang up on her.

Quinn sighed when there was still silence. "Fine, we'll get you a phone, okay? Just tell me what you found."

"I think I found what it is," Santana said, sounding very pleased with herself. "It's a Ta—Tsa—why do these things all have such dumbass names? Whatever, it's a demon that takes the form of a woman as it hunts for people to eat and it has glowy eyes, so it sounds like the bitch you found. It usually seduces its victims first, but sometimes just attacks if it's been a while since it's fed. Uh, blah blah—its claws are poisonous and—"

"Wait, what?" Quinn yelled, interrupted her. "What do you mean poisonous?"

"Umm—if the—whatever it's called scratches a victim with its claws and doesn't kill them, the person may begin to turn into a—one of the things," Santana read. "That's all there is in this boring ass book.

"I have to go," Quinn quickly said, glancing through the glass door at Rachel. "Call me the second you find something else."

Quinn hung up before Santana could respond and stood there, staring at Rachel. The vampire said it _may _turn a person, not that it was certain to happen, so Quinn took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She didn't want to jump to conclusion and alarm the brunette, so, as she opened the door and walked inside, Quinn decided not to tell Rachel until she had more information.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked.

"I'm fine," Quinn lied, looking up at the brunette, who was intently watching her now.

"Mr. Schue came in while you were out there and wants us to get ready," Rachel informed her. "He thinks hiking will be a good bonding experience."

Quinn groaned. "We have to hike?"

"Apparently," Rachel said with a shrug.

"Wi—Mr. Schue wants to leave in five minutes, so let's hustle!" Emma said, clapping her hand together.

"Kill me now," Mercedes mumbled.

Quinn nodded in silent agreement and then reluctantly walked upstairs to change into something a little more appropriate for the outdoors. She put on a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a pair of boots she used a lot for patrolling. Rachel was also in the room changing and Quinn couldn't help but glance over at her every few seconds. The brunette caught her eyes several times and Quinn would look away and blush, figuring Rachel probably thought she was just watching her undress.

"I'll be downstairs," Quinn blurted out, rushing out of the room the fifth time Rachel caught her staring.

As Quinn walked down the hall and down the stairs, she shook her head at herself. Rachel was going to figure out pretty quickly that something was wrong if she kept this up. She was just looking for any sign that something was wrong so she could get Rachel someplace safe, for her own good and everyone else's. She needed to be a little more inconspicuous about it, though.

Brittany, Crystal, and Tina were all standing close to the door when she got downstairs; Brittany looked excited, but the other two didn't seem all that happy to be hiking in the winter. Quinn walked toward them and grabbed her scarf from the hook, throwing it around her neck before putting her coat on. She took her gloves out of her pockets just as Rachel and Mercedes joined the rest of the group.

"Are we ready?" Emma asked.

"Yes!" Brittany said while everyone else mumbled incoherently.

Quinn sighed and followed their guidance counselor out the door, where the boys and Mr. Schue were already waiting. A few of them looked a little more excited than the girls, though not by much. Quinn shivered and pulled her coat even tighter around her body; it was beginning to flurry and the wind was so sharp that it felt like it was going to cut through her. She glanced at Rachel to make sure she was okay and the brunette smiled at her, looping her arms around Quinn's.

"Are you going to be warm enough?" Quinn asked, noticing that Rachel wasn't quite as bundled up as the rest.

"I'm fine," Rachel said, shrugging. "I've actually been feeling a little warm today; I'm starting to wonder if maybe I have a fever."

Quinn's eyebrows rose. "Let's hope not."

* * *

><p>The hike was a disaster; by the time they reached their destination, the snow started pouring and they had to make their way back when they could barely see in front of their faces. Artie's chair kept getting stuck on things, so Puck and Mike would have to stop and help him, and Mercedes stumbled over a tree root, hurting her ankle. Kurt got smacked in the face with a branch, getting a small cut above his eye, and then fell in the mud. By the time they reached the cabins, everyone was miserable and needed showers.<p>

After everyone was finally cleaned up, the twelve Glee clubbers gathered in the girl's cabin again and ordered pizzas again since it was the only thing in town that delivered. They all lounged around as they ate, too tired from the hike to do much of anything else. Finn had seated himself beside Rachel and Quinn had been glaring daggers at him the whole time behind Rachel's back.

"I think we should play another game," Brittany said after a while, once they were done eating.

"Not that game from yesterday," Kurt said, shaking his head. "I can't handle another night of that."

"How about something a little more interesting?" Puck asked.

Quinn did not like the look in his eyes. "Define 'more interesting'."

"Truth or Dare," Puck said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yes!" Brittany said, bopping up and down.

"No," Quinn immediately replied.

"Come on," Puck pleaded. "It'll be fun."

"I'm game," Mike said, shrugging.

"Only if we set up a few ground rules," Mercedes said, looking a little wary.

"Like what?" Puck asked.

"Like I don't wanna see any of your naked asses," Mercedes replied.

"I second that," Kurt said, nodding.

Puck sighed. "Fine. Anything else?"

"I'll let you know," Mercedes replied.

"Everyone in?" Puck asked, looking around.

Quinn didn't want to play and really wanted to just go up to her room and read the book she brought with her, but she also didn't want to leave Rachel alone. The brunette seemed okay—maybe a little more affectionate than usual—but she still didn't want her to be left alone. Especially when she was going to be playing Truth or Dare with Puck and Finn. She knew Puck wasn't stupid enough to try anything when she was there, but Finn was too stupid to get the hint, and she would be there to kick his ass if she needed to.

Everyone, including Quinn, nodded in agreement and Puck looked like Christmas had come early. They hadn't even started playing, but the blonde was already regretting her decision. There was no going back now, though; she would just have to go along with it and hope no one was dumb enough to make her do anything too bad.

"Okay, I'll go first," Puck said, grinning.

"Why do you get to go first?" Kurt asked.

"Because it was my idea," Puck stated.

Kurt shrugged. "So, I thi—"

"Oh my god," Quinn interrupted. "Let's just get this over with. Puck can go first."

"Finn," Puck said, looking at his friend. "Truth or dare?"

Finn looked like deer in the headlights, clearly not anticipating his friend picking him. "Uhh—truth."

"Who was your last sex dream about?" Puck asked.

Finn visibly paled and mumbled, "Miss Pillsbury."

Everyone laughed at him and his face started turning red. Quinn scrunched her nose in disgust; that was something she would have happily died without ever knowing.

Finn huffed. "Rachel, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Rachel immediately replied.

"Who do you like?" Finn asked.

"Who do I like?" Rachel repeated.

"Yeah," Finn said, shrugging, and smiling. "Who do you have a crush on?"

"Someone in this room," Rachel replied.

"That's not an answer," Finn said, frowning.

"Yes, it is; you didn't say I had to be specific or give you a name, so my answer is completely valid," Rachel replied. "My turn!"

"Mercedes," Rachel said, looking at the other girl.

Mercedes sighed in annoyed but said, "Truth."

"Who do you think is the cutest member of Glee?" Rachel asked. "And you can't name yourself."

Mercedes cleared her throat, looking a little uncomfortable. "I think I'm going to have to go with my man Kurt."

"Lame," Puck said, rolling his eyes.

"Mike, truth or dare?" Mercedes said, ignoring Puck's comment.

"Dare," Mike said, shrugging.

"I dare you—to sing I Touch Myself in front of all of us," Mercedes said, laughing.

Everyone laughed as Mike reluctantly went through with his dare; he got cheers from most of the girls while the guys mostly heckled him. By the time he finally sat down, he was completely red in the face from embarrassment. Quinn didn't know if it solely due to the song choice or if it was mostly from just having to do a solo in front of the group.

"Uh Puck," Mike said, looking at the mohawked boy.

"Dare," Puck said before Mike could even ask.

"I dare you to go outside and make a snow angel," Mike stated.

"That's all?" Puck asked.

"In your underwear," Mike added.

Puck narrowed his eyes, but stood up and started stripping as he walked toward the door. Quinn briefly wondered where the hell their two chaperones were and how Puck was going to be able to explain himself if they caught him. Several of the group followed Puck to watch him do his dare, but Quinn remained seated. She heard Tina, Kurt, and Brittany laughing near the door and Puck came in with his arms wrapped around his torso, shivering.

"Asian girl, truth or dare?" Puck said as he threw his clothes back on.

"My name is Tina," she said, frowning.

"Whatever," Puck replied.

Tina sighed. "Truth."

"When was the last time you mas—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Mercedes said, pointing at him. "You're disgusting and I vote you forfeit your question, so Tina goes."

"But—"

"No," Mercedes said, silencing him.

"Truth or dare, Rachel," Tina said, looking a little unsure as she glanced at the brunette.

"Dare," Rachel replied.

Kurt leaned over, whispering something in Tina's ear before the girl said, "I dare you to kiss the person you like."

Quinn noticed Finn smiling widely and she really wanted to smack the look off his face. Rachel looked at her and the two locked eyes; the brunette wasn't the type of person to lie and she could see that the other girl was torn, so Quinn nodded her head just a fraction to let her know it was okay.

Rachel cleared her throat and glancing in Finn's direction, his smile growing wider. She then turned to Quinn and leaned in, bringing their lips together. There were several gasps throughout the room and someone—presumably Brittany—clapping. Quinn opened her eyes as Rachel pulled away and saw half the club gaping at them.

"What the hell?" Finn angrily said.

"I'm sorry Finn, but I told you I wasn't interested," Rachel said, still looking at Quinn.

Finn stood up, kicking the armchair along the way, and stormed through the room and out the door without his jacket. Everyone watched him go, some looking slightly amused and others worried, and Quinn tried not to smirk too much.

Rachel shrugged as she turned to the rest of the group like nothing had happened. "Okay, Kurt, truth or dare?"

* * *

><p>Quinn slowly opened her eyes and immediately reached beside her; Rachel was there this time, though, so Quinn looked around for the source of the noise that had awoken her. It was a scratching sound and appeared to be coming from outside. Quinn got out of bed as quietly as she could, hoping not to wake Rachel, and walked toward the window. She pulled the curtains aside and peered out, but there was just a sliver of moon, so it was nearly pitch black. She heard the noise again and glanced at Rachel, but the girl was fast asleep.<p>

Quinn crept through the bedroom, grabbing her jeans from the back of the armchair and throwing them on. She pulled her boots onto her bare feet and grabbed a weapon she had hidden in one of the drawers. She slipped out the door and walked down the hall and stairs as quietly as she could; the living room was empty and Miss Pillsbury's door was shut, so Quinn made her way to the other side of the room. She threw her coat on and went out the door, closing it noiselessly behind her.

Trudging through the snow, she walked around to the side of the cabin where she thought the noise was coming from but saw nothing. She looked up, wondering if a tree branch was scraping against the side of the building, but the nearest one was several feet from the cabin. Quinn frowned and looked around one more time before turning to walk back. She stopped in her tracks, though, when she heard a rustling noise from above her.

She was staring at the tree when something shrieked and lunged for her from the side, knocking her on her back. She scrambled to get up, but was weighed down by the creature on top of her. She punched the demon woman in the face, knocking it to the side, and jumped to her feet. When she looked behind her, where the demon had fallen, the space was empty; she frantically looked around, but the thing had disappeared again. She knew it could fly and looked to the sky, but it was so dark, she couldn't really see anything.

She stood there a moment, looking around, when she got hit from the side again, flying several feet in the air before hitting the ground with a thud. Quinn groaned in pain, her shoulder throbbing from the impact. When she sat up, the demon had vanished again and she huffed in annoyance; it was hard to fight something when it kept coming out of nowhere and knocking her down. Instead of getting up, she actually stayed on the ground, hoping she would be less of a target—or at least she would get knocked down if she was already on the ground.

There was another shriek and the demon came at her again; Quinn was ready this time, though, and threw her dagger, hitting the demon square in the chest. Quinn raised her eyebrows as the thing screamed in pain and crumbled to the ground before disintegrating into a gooey substance.

"Do they usually do that?"

Quinn looked over her shoulder to find Puck standing there in nothing but his boxers. "I don't know—I've never fought one before."

"Are you okay?" Puck asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said, rubbing her shoulder.

"What was that thing?" Puck asked.

"I don't know," Quinn replied. "I fought it a few days ago, though, in Lima."

Puck frowned "So, what was it doing here?"

"I'm not sure about that, either, but I think I might have a guess," Quinn said, looking up at her window as she stood up. "Let's get inside before Miss Pillsbury or Schue find us out here."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Puck asked from the doorway of the boy's cabin.

Quinn nodded. "I'm fine. Goodnight, Puck."

Quinn snuck back into the cabin and up to her room; as soon as she walked in, she heard her phone vibrating, and she grabbed it to see who was calling in the middle of the night. She saw it was Santana, though, so she walked out of the room and to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

"Hello," she answered.

"It's about damn time," Santana said, and Quinn could practically hear her eyes roll. "I've been calling you for the last ten minutes."

"Well, it is four in the morning," Quinn pointed out.

"Whatever," Santana replied. "Do you want to hear what I found or not?"

"Go on," Quinn said, putting the toilet lid down to sit on it.

"The—thing I still can't fucking say hunts alone, but lives in a coven," Santana explained. "Once you kill one, every person they've turned will go back to being human."

"Does that mean anyone they've scratched won't turn into one of them?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah and—"

"You know what, San, that's all I needed to know," Quinn said, smiling.

"Seriously?" Santana said, sounding annoyed. "I did all this research and you're damn well going to listen to it."

Quinn shook her head, stilling smiling. "Okay, tell me the rest."

She stood up left the bathroom, going back to her room as she listened to Santana. When she went inside, she walked to the bed, and sat on the edge, watching Rachel. She reached out and grabbed Rachel's hand; though the other girl was still asleep, she squeezed Quinn's hand slightly. Quinn smiled and leaned down, placing a gentle kiss to Rachel's forehead.

* * *

><p>Quinn looked to the back of the bus and then glanced at Rachel; the brunette was fast asleep on her shoulder and Quinn smiled at the sight. She gently removed Rachel's head off of her and got up from her seat, walking to the back, where she sat down next to Puck.<p>

"I figured maybe we should talk," Quinn said, looking around, but the nearest person was Mike, and he was several rows ahead of them and asleep.

"Okay," Puck said, shrugging.

Quinn took a deep breath. "Lima—isn't like other towns."

"You know, I'm not the smartest guy, but I have figured that one out," Puck said.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Fine. Lima is on top of the mouth of hell—literally—so there is a lot of bad crap around. Stuff you only see in video games and movies. Earlier this year I learned that I'm here to stop it.

"What are you?" Puck asked.

"The Slayer," Quinn replied.

"So you're like totally badass, then?" Puck asked, smirking.

"I guess you can say that," Quinn replied.

Puck nodded. "What's up with Santana?"

Quinn sighed. "She's a vampire. She was killed during the dance, but she got turned and I couldn't kill her, but it turns out she isn't completely evil, though we don't really know why. Rachel seems to think that it has to do with her love of Brittany and that there's a part of her soul still alive in Britt. We do know she can't hurt anyone, though; Brittany did a spell on her and she can't hurt anyone with a soul."

"Brittany did a spell?" Puck asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Apparently she's a witch," Quinn said, shrugging. "Believe me—I know how insane this all sounds."

"Not gonna lie, it does sound batshit crazy, but it also makes sense," Puck replied. "Too many people in our school have bit the dust for it to be normal, and after what I saw at Thanksgiving, I'm think I'd believe anything."

"I know I don't have to tell you not to tell anyone," Quinn said, looking at him. "If people knew—they would panic and it would only make my job harder."

"Plus people would think you'd lost your mind," Puck stated.

"That too," Quinn agreed.

Quinn noticed that Rachel was now awake and looking back at her, so she sent off a quick text, telling her she'd be up there soon. She smiled when Rachel looked back and nodded.

"What?" she asked, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Puck was grinning at her.

"Gotta say, that kiss yesterday was totally hot," Puck said, causing Quinn to roll her eyes.

"Shut it," Quinn responded.

"Finn was ranting half the night about how Rachel couldn't possibly like you because you're a girl and that you two hate each other," Puck said, laughing. "The dude is still in denial."

"That's because he's an idiot," Quinn said in annoyance.

"So—are you two like dating now?" Puck asked.

"Not exactly," Quinn replied.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because it's complicated," Quinn said, shrugging.

Puck shook his head. "What's so complicated? You're into her and she's into you. The way I see it, life is too damn short, and I'm guessing the life of a Slayer is even shorter. What do you really have to lose?"

Quinn sighed. "Fine—I'm scared, okay? I can fight vampires and ghosts and weird flying women, but the way I feel about Rachel scares the crap out of me. I've never believed in love because I see the way my mother and father are and I don't want to end up like them—miserable and resenting everyone and everything."

"You're not them," Puck stated. "They're uptight assholes and always have been. You might be bit of a bitch sometimes, but you are a chick, so—" Quinn glared at him. "Look, I think it says something that Rachel's into you; my Jew is smart, and she wouldn't waste her time."

Quinn slumped in her seat and stared across the bus, looking at Rachel. Puck bumped her shoulder, though, nearly knocking her out the seat.

"Quit being such a pansy," he said, laughing.

Quinn sighed as she stood up, but then looked at Puck and smiled. "Thanks, Puck."

"No problem," Puck replied. "Just keep me in mind if you two ever decide—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Quinn cut him off.

Puck laughed louder and Quinn made her way up to Rachel, sitting next to her again.

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked, looking concerned.

Quinn nodded and smiled at her before softly saying, "Yeah."

* * *

><p>As soon as Quinn and Rachel walked into the Berry house, Leroy popped his head into the hall and said, "Hey, girls."<p>

"Hi, Daddy," Rachel said, walking toward the kitchen with open arms.

"Did you two have fun?" Leroy asked, looking at Quinn as he hugged his daughter.

Quinn shrugged. "It was okay."

"It wasn't terrible," Rachel said, also shrugging. "And though I applaud Mr. Schue's attempts to get the Glee club to bond, I wouldn't say it was a success on that front."

Quinn smirked at Finn's failed attempt to talk to Rachel on the bus ride back. He tried to get Rachel to speak privately, but the brunette refused, and Quinn fought to keep the smug smile from her face as Finn sulked away. Kurt and Mercedes, however, didn't keep their laughter to themselves, which resulted in Finn glowering at them until they reached the McKinley High parking lot.

"You look happy about something," Leroy said, arching his eyebrow at Quinn.

Quinn cleared her throat and wiped the smirk off her face. "It's nothing."

"Uh huh," Leroy said, not looking convinced. "Are you two hungry?"

"Starving," they said in unison, which made the man laugh.

"How about we eat out?" Leroy suggested. "I really don't feel like cooking anything."

"Not pizza," Quinn stated.

"Or salad," Rachel added.

Leroy nodded. "I think I can arrange that. Any specific suggestions or do you want me to surprise you?"

"Surprise us," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Alright, I'll be back in a little bit," Leroy said, walking toward the door.

"I thought I heard Berry's loud mouth," Santana said, opening the door to the basement.

"Hello to you too, Santana," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Where's the elder Berry going?" Santana asked at the sound of the front door closing.

"Getting food," Quinn said, sitting down on one of the stools.

"So, was the trip totally horrible?" Santana asked.

"Not completely," Quinn said with a shrug. "It was funny watching Finn make an ass out of himself."

"Isn't that an everyday thing?" Santana asked.

"True," Quinn replied. "We played Truth or Dare, though, so you can imagine how well that went."

"I must admit that it was pretty funny," Rachel interjected. "I do feel a bit sorry for him, though; he clearly thought I was going to say his name when he asked who I liked."

Santana laughed. "Finnept seriously asked that?"

"Yeah, but Rachel was evasive and didn't answer the question until Tina dared her to kiss the person she likes," Quinn replied. "Then he got a little surprise."

"Was he chanting 'mailman' over and over?" Santana asked.

Rachel furrowed her brows. "Mailman?"

"Don't ask," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"It seems Finny boy has a little problem that Quinn discovered while she was dating him," Santana answered.

Rachel scrunched up her nose in disgust. "I really shouldn't have asked.

"Told you," Quinn mumbled.

"I'm going over to B's," Santana said,

"Have fun," Rachel said with a wave.

"Always do," Santana said, cocking her eyebrow, and smirking.

Quinn laughed as Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Oh, and congrats on not being poisoned," Santana said over her shoulder, on the way to the door. "Not that I would care, but it would've sucked for Q if you'd turned into one of those flying bitches."

Quinn closed her eyes and put her head in her hands just as Rachel yelled, "What!?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hopefully you all enjoyed; I thought I would go with a slightly less serious chapter since big things are going down in the next one.<strong>

**As I mentioned last time, you can find update information on my tumblr; you can also find the occasional rambling on there or you can ask me a question and I'll probably answer it.**

**Reviews are always wonderful, so please leave one.**


	14. Secrets

**ToastedMarshmellow08: Eh, it wasn't too creepy.**

**The Queen Of Solitude: Thank you so very much and I always appreciate virtual cookies.**

**Thank you to everyone else that commented and especially to those that so eloquently and hilariously responded to a certain individual. You guys are wonderful.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14 – <strong>**Secrets**

"Are you sure your leg is okay?" Rachel asked, frowning when she noticed Quinn limping slightly.

"It's fine," Quinn replied. "I mean, it hurts a bit, but it's not too bad."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked. "You're still limping quite a bit and it's been a few days. Maybe you should go to the hospital and have it checked out."

"I swear it's fine," Quinn said, reaching out and squeezing Rachel's hand.

Rachel sighed. "Okay, but if it gets worse, I demand you go to the doctor."

"If it gets worse, I swear I'll go," Quinn replied.

"Good," Rachel said with a nod.

Rachel followed behind Quinn, watching her for any sign that her limping was getting worse. They were headed for the training room because Sue had demanded that Quinn come there as soon as school was out. They were running a little late because Mr. Schue called an emergency Glee club meeting, though Rachel had no idea why since it wasn't really an emergency. Principal Figgins just wanted them to perform at an assembly the next week; she didn't see why he couldn't just tell them that the next day since it's not like he wanted them to start rehearsing right away.

"Where have you been?" Sue barked as soon as they walked into the training room.

Quinn stopped and Rachel bumped into her. The brunette looked over her shoulder and saw Quinn's Watcher standing there with a haughty looking man and woman. They were both in suits and the woman had a pad of paper in her hand with a pen hovering above it.

"We had a Glee meeting," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Who is she and what is she doing here?" the man asked, pointing to Rachel.

"I don't know," Sue said, clasping her hands together. "I've never seen her before."

"What?" Quinn asked, glancing between Rachel and Sue.

"Quinn, you know you're not allowed to bring people in here," Sue said.

"I repeat—what?" Quinn asked, frowning.

"You have to get out," Sue whispered harshly, walking over to Rachel and grabbing her arm to push her out of the room.

The door slammed behind her and Rachel stood in the Cheerios locker room confused at the turn of events; she looked back at the door and frowned, wondering what just happened. She turned around and started walking out of the room, but halfway down the hall, she heard the door slam again and footsteps coming her way.

"Hey, wait," Quinn called out.

Rachel stopped and leaned against the row of lockers as she waited for Quinn to catch up to her. When she looked up, Quinn was smiling at her apologetically.

"The Watcher's Council is here," Quinn said as she approached her. "No one is supposed to know I'm the Slayer and apparently Sue failed to tell them that people do know."

"So they can't know I know," Rachel said.

"Pretty much," Quinn replied with a nod. "I'm sorry."

Rachel shrugged. "It's not your fault."

"If you want to wait, I can drive you home," Quinn said.

"No," Rachel shook her head, "I'll just walk."

"I'll let you know if I'm going to be late," Quinn said, looking over her shoulder. "Although something tells me I'm going to be here a while."

"It's fine," Rachel replied. "I'll see you when you get home."

Quinn nodded and then turned to walk back to the training room; she didn't look very happy about it and Rachel felt a little sorry for her. She knew the blonde didn't like being told what to do and she had the feeling she was going to be jumping through a lot of hoops while the Watcher's Council was in town.

Rachel sighed and pulled her phone out of her bag; she scrolled down to Kurt's number and pressed the call button. The phone rung several times before Kurt's voice came over the line.

"Hello, Kurt," Rachel said into the phone. "Are you busy?"

"No," Kurt said, sounding a little confused. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you would like to do something," Rachel said, then felt the need to clarify. "Right now. The two of us."

"I guess," Kurt said, sounding even more confused now. "Aren't you usually hanging out with Quinn after school, though?"

"She's busy right now, so I thought I could use this opportunity to catch up with you," Rachel replied. "I know we've never been the best of friends, but I think we could be."

"Would you like to come to my house?" Kurt suggested. "I was actually thinking of making dinner and maybe watching a few movies, so you could join me if you would like."

"That sounds lovely," Rachel said, smiling. "I'll be there soon."

Rachel ended the call and nodded to herself, telling herself this was the best course of action. While she would rather spend the evening with Quinn, maybe this could be fun. It would be nice to get to know Kurt a little better and it beat the option of going home and spending the evening with Santana.

* * *

><p>The moment Quinn turned to walk away from Rachel, she wanted to go back, grab her hand, and take her back to the training room. She wanted to say to hell with the Watcher's Council, but she was afraid of what might happen if she did that. She didn't exactly know what they could do, but if Sue was afraid of them enough to lie, then they must be powerful.<p>

When she opened the door to the training room, three sets of eyes were immediately on her, making her feel a little self-conscious. She didn't know what she was going to be expected to do, but she didn't have a good feeling about it.

"Sorry I'm late," Quinn said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Was it a supernatural emergency?" the man asked.

"Not per se," Quinn replied. "More like a school one."

"Ah, I see," he said, nodding.

"So—who are you?" Quinn asked, deciding to not beat around this bush.

"Yes, sorry for not introducing ourselves, but we assumed Miss Sylvester would have the courtesy to do that," he replied, looking at Sue, who was now staring at the ceiling. "I am Mr. Walsh and this is my associate Miss O'Connell. We are here to observe you and Miss Sylvester to make sure things are going the way they are supposed to be going."

"As I said before, I don't see why there would be any need for that, but do as you wish," Sue said.

Quinn furrowed her brows as she looked at her Watcher, but the older woman looked at her, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, so Quinn turned back to the two adults in front of her instead of asking where the hell Sue Sylvester had gone. It was becoming clear already that these people knew nothing about how the woman usually acted.

"If you don't mind, Miss Fabray, we have a few questions for you, but those can wait until tomorrow," Mr. Walsh said, stepping toward her. "Instead, I think we should observe you tonight."

"Observe me?" Quinn asked.

"As you go on patrol," he said, nodding. "I'm sure you're used to having your Watcher go with you, so it shouldn't be a problem for you, should it?"

Sue cleared her throat. "Of course not. It won't be any problem at all."

"We'll let you get changed and then we'll observe your training routine before we go into the field with you," he said, nodding to Quinn before he and his companion walked out of the room.

"Why exactly are they here?" Quinn asked the moment the door was shut.

"I may have missed one or two of the weekly updates they require," Sue replied. "I've been too busy trying to find a new head Cheerio that isn't going be an utter disappointment like the last one."

Quinn rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the jab. "Why are they here to watch me if you're the one that messed up?"

"Does it matter?" Sue asked. "Let's get something straight. You will do everything I tell you to do, without question, for as long as those two are here. Under no circumstance are they allowed to find out that the dwarf knows you're the Slayer."

"Whatever," Quinn said, shaking her head.

She clenched her jaw and grabbed her bag to change into something a little more comfortable for training, but what she really wanted to do was tell Sue to shove it. She left her to her own devices most of the time, which Quinn was okay with, but now she suddenly wanted to act like her Watcher just to save face with her bosses. Quinn would do it, though, just because she really didn't want a different Watcher; if the rest were anything like the two here, she had a feeling she would be watched every second of the day. At least Sue hadn't yelled at her too much when Rachel found out her secret. She still didn't know about Brittany or Puck knowing that she was the Slayer or that Santana was a vampire living in Rachel's basement, but she hoped when Sue found that out, she wouldn't yell at her too much. Even if she did, there was nothing anyone could do about it now; it's not like she could be fired from being the Slayer, so everyone would just have to deal with the fact that people knew who she was. Besides, she couldn't be the only Slayer in history that people found out about.

* * *

><p>Rachel looked at the time and realized she had been at Kurt's for four hours; thirty minutes ago she had received a text from Quinn saying she would be home in an hour, so she figured she should get home, too. Quinn's text was very short and Rachel texted back, asking her if everything was okay, but she only got 'later' texted back. She hated not knowing what was going on, but she was trying to be patient and knew Quinn would tell her when she saw her.<p>

She and Kurt were watching The Notebook there were only a few minutes left, so Rachel sat there, waiting for the credits to roll. Kurt was next to her, crying into a tissue, but Rachel was too antsy to be sad about the movie. It wasn't that she wasn't glad to be here with Kurt—she'd actually been having fun—but her worry for Quinn outweighed the enjoyment. The moments the credits started rolling, Rachel jumped off the couch.

"I should probably be going," Rachel said.

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked. "We could watch A Walk to Remember."

"I'm sure," Rachel replied. "I've had a lot of fun, though, so thank you for having me over."

"Can I ask you something before you go?" Kurt asked, jumping to his feet.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "Sure."

"You and Finn—" Kurt said. "Are you—really not interested in him?"

Rachel shook her head with a light laugh. "I'm not interest in Finn, no."

"I must admit I was a little surprised," Kurt said, sitting on the arm of the couch. "I thought you would be all over Finn; the good looking, talented, popular quarterback. No offence, but you've always struck me as someone who would do anything to be popular and I thought he would be your target for leading man."

"Maybe in a different life, but Finn's just—" Rachel sighed. "Don't get me wrong, he's cute, but there's just something missing. He doesn't make my heart flutter when I talk to him."

"Not like a certain blonde ex-Cheerio?" Kurt asked, smirking.

"No," Rachel said, blushing.

"So, you and Quinn—" Kurt said, raising his eyebrows.

"We're friends," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Rachel!" Kurt said in exasperation. "We're friends; you can talk to me."

"There isn't a lot to say," Rachel replied. "Quinn and I are just figuring things out as we go along."

"So it isn't just one sided," Kurt said with a self-satisfied smile on his face. "I thought I could tell that she liked you, but I wasn't a hundred percent."

"Kurt, please don't tell anyone," Rachel said, sighing.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," Kurt replied. "I actually like Quinn now and I think you're good together. I have to admit, at first I thought she was playing some sort of joke on you, but it turns out she isn't so bad. Since you two have become friends, you're a lot more bearable."

Rachel frowned. "On that note, I'm going to go."

"If you're sure," Kurt said, shrugging.

"Thank you for a wonderful time, Kurt," Rachel said, hugging him.

"We'll have to do this again," Kurt said, smiling.

"Definitely," Rachel said, grabbing her bag from the floor.

"Do you want me drive you home?" Kurt asked, opening the door for her.

Rachel looked out at the night sky. "Would you?"

Kurt nodded and grabbed his keys from the hook by the door. "Dad, I'm taking Rachel home! I'll be back in a few minutes!"

"Okay, Kurt," Burt yelled from the other room.

Kurt drove Rachel home and the ride was mostly silent except the radio playing quietly. The drive wasn't long—only about five minutes—and before Rachel knew it, Kurt was pulling up to her house. The house was dark, which meant Quinn wasn't home and her father was probably at work. Ever since he had come back, he had been spending extra time there, trying to catch up and everything he had missed while he was away.

"Thank you for the ride," Rachel said, opening her door.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," Kurt said, giving her a smile.

Rachel shut the door and waved to Kurt as he drove away. She started walking to the door, grabbing her keys out of her bag as she walked. She stopped, though, when she heard something behind her, but she looked over her shoulder and didn't see anything. Her heart was pounding her in her chest and she suddenly had a really bad feeling.

"You're okay," Rachel whispered to herself.

"You're not," a voice growled behind her.

Instead of turning around, Rachel started running. She didn't get very far, though, before something grabbed her around the waist, lifting her up into the air. She tried to scream, but a hand clamped over her mouth so only muffled cries came out. She was trying to kick and struggled in an attempt to free herself, but all she heard was laughter from behind her. She kept kicking, but her legs were grabbed by something. When she looked up, a vampire had her legs and she suspected another vampire was holding her up.

Rachel glanced at her house; she was so close to home. A tear slipped down her cheek as her legs were released and a blindfold went over her eyes.

* * *

><p>Quinn groaned as she rolled her tired shoulders back. Not only did she have to go through a whole training session, but then the two from the Watcher's Council asked her to demonstrate a bunch of skills, and then she had to go patrolling with three people looking over her shoulder. It was incredibly hard to be stealthy when she had two people taking notes behind her and another constantly making sarcastic quips anytime the other two couldn't hear. She'd texted Rachel several hours ago saying she would be home in an hour, so she hoped the brunette wasn't worrying too much since Sue wouldn't let her text the other girl to let her know she was going to be later than she'd anticipated.<p>

She breathed a sigh of relief when the Berry house came into view; she was dying to get inside and take a nice, hot bath. She hopped out of her car and walked to the front door. She frowned, though, wondering why there were no lights on inside. Rachel had texted her when she was headed home, so she knew Rachel should be there. She shrugged, though, figuring that maybe Rachel had gone to bed early.

When she walked in, she threw her keys in the bowl near the door and shrugged her coat off, putting it on one of the hooks. She trudged up the stairs and yawned as she walked toward Rachel's room. The door was closed, so she knocked lightly and listened for the brunette, but she didn't hear anything.

"Rach?" she whispered, opening the door, and peeking in. "Rachel?"

She frowned and opened the door all the way, surprised to find the room empty. Quickly turning around, she went back down the stairs, through the hall, into the kitchen, and opened the door to the basement.

"Santana," Quinn called, taking the steps two at a time.

"What?" Santana asked, already sounding annoyed by her presence.

"Where's Rachel?" Quinn asked.

"How should I know?" Santana asked back.

Quinn grabbed her phone to make sure she hadn't missed a call or text, but there was nothing. "You're telling me she hasn't come home?"

"I'm telling you I haven't seen the hobbit," Santana replied.

Quinn was trying not to panic too much; she was telling herself that maybe Rachel didn't leave when she said or maybe they decided to stop somewhere along the way to eat. Just because she wasn't home, it didn't necessarily mean something bad had happened to her.

"What's going on?" Santana asked.

Quinn remembered the phone in her hand; she went to her contacts, found Rachel's name, and hit the call button.

"Hello," Santana waved her arms about, "I asked you a question."

"Shut up," Quinn said as she listened to Rachel's phone go to voicemail. "Rachel, when you get this, call me or text me or send a damn smoke signal. I came home and you're not here and I'm freaking out since you said a while ago you were headed home. Just—let me know you're okay."

"Berry's missing?" Santana asked.

"I don't know," Quinn said, running her hand through her hair. "She spent the evening with Kurt and he was driving her home a few hours ago, but she's not here." Quinn took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "I have a really bad feeling; Rachel wouldn't just go off and not let anyone know."

"Why the hell wasn't she with you?" Santana wondered.

Quinn shook her head. "I'm being observed and Sue kicked her out so they wouldn't find out that she knows I'm the Slayer." Quinn groaned in frustration. "Why don't I have Kurt's number?"

Quinn turned and ran up the stairs; Santana called after her, but she ignored the vampire. She grabbed her coat, throwing it on, and then grabbed her keys as she rushed out the door. She didn't know Kurt's number, but she did know where he lived since Rachel pointed it out one day as they drove by the house.

She got to his house in three minutes, breaking every speed limit, but she didn't really care. She left the car running as she ran up and pounded incessantly on the door until it was finally opened by who she assumed was Kurt's father.

"Can I help you?" he asked, sounding a little peeved.

"Is Rachel still here?" Quinn asked.

"Kurt took her home like an hour ago," Burt said, shaking his head.

Quinn was panicking even more now. "Can I talk to Kurt?"

"Kurt!" Burt called. "There's a blonde girl here to see you."

Burt walked away and Kurt came a few moments later, looking visibly surprised that she was at the door as he asked, "Quinn, what are you doing here?"

"You took Rachel home?" Quinn asked, not bothering with pleasantries.

"Yes," Kurt cautiously replied.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Quinn demanded, stepping closer to him.

"What—"

Quinn sighed in annoyance. "When you took her home."

"I dropped her off," Kurt said, shrugging, and looking a little unnerved by Quinn being in his face. "She got out, waved, and I drove away."

"You didn't see her go inside?" Quinn asked, wanting clarification, her voice getting higher and louder.

"No," Kurt answered, frowning. "What's going on?"

Quinn shook her head as she backed away. "I have to go."

She turned and ran to her car; she sat in it a moment as she tried to think if Rachel could be anywhere else. Even if Rachel was angry with her for being sent away, Quinn knew there was no way the brunette would ignore her calls to deliberately make her worry. She knew Rachel had made it to the house, but she had never actually made it inside. Quinn needed to go to the last place she knew Rachel was, so she put the car in drive and started heading home.

When she pulled into the driveway, she kept the headlights on for some light, and stepped out of the car, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. She used her phone like a flashlight as her eyes flitted along the ground; she went from the driveway to the house, trying to trace where Rachel may have walked. She saw nothing during her first pass and was walking back the other way when the front door opened.

"What the hell are you doing?" Santana asked, crossing her arms, and leading against the doorframe.

"Kurt brought Rachel home," Quinn replied. "I'm looking for anything that will tell me why she didn't make it inside."

Santana pushed off the doorframe and sauntered over to Quinn; she stepped on something along the way, though, and looked down. She bent down, picking something up from the grass.

"I think I found something," Santana said, holding Rachel's phone up.

"Oh god," Quinn said, running her hand through her hair.

* * *

><p>Rachel couldn't see anything as she was half shoved, half carried to wherever she was being taken. She was surprised they were taking here anywhere at all since vampires were more about killing their victims, but these two apparently had other plans for here, which scared her even more. She couldn't fathom what they might want unless they were looking for information about Quinn. She always knew something like this could happen and had tried to mentally prepare herself if such an event did happen, but now that she was here, she was terrified.<p>

She was knocked to the ground and let out a small cry when she landed badly on her wrist. She wanted to take off her blindfold now that her hands were no longer bound, but she was afraid of what they might do, so she decided to leave it on. She did discreetly feel around the ground, though, trying to figure out where she might be. It felt like concrete, but it was dirty as if it hadn't been swept in a very long time.

"Let's go," one of them said.

She heard their footsteps going away followed by the scrape of a door and a lock going into place. Rachel waited a few minutes, wondering if they were going to come back, but after a while, she reached up and took her blindfold off. The room was dark, but there was some light coming from a half broken lamp in the corner of the room. It looked like she was in a basement of some kind because the room was windowless, but there were no steps, so she assumed it wasn't actually a basement.

She stood up and dusted her hands off and then looked at her pants, which were filthy, and tried to clean them off. She walked around the large room, feeling the wall, and looking along the floor for anything that could help her. When she got to the door, she tried the handle but it would move. She tried pulling on it as hard as she could, but the door didn't budge, so she then tried hitting it with her shoulder, but that only made her shoulder hurt.

There was the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door and Rachel quickly backed away from it. She could see the shadow under the space between the door and the floor; the person paused outside, but then walked on. Breathing a sigh of relief, she slid down the wall and gingerly rubbed her wrist, which she could tell was slightly swollen and a bruise was already forming. She heard more footsteps outside the door and tensed up, preparing herself in case they entered, but they kept walking. She wondered how many vampires were out there or if there was more than just vampires, but it seemed unluckily; vampires usually didn't associate with other types of demons.

She wondered why she was still in this room. Shouldn't they be torturing her or something right now? Vampires weren't usually known for their patience. Given everything she had read about them, they really should be torturing and killing her right now. Clearly they had some sort of agenda, though. She was trying to think of what to tell them when they started interrogating her; if they had her, they obviously knew she was friends with Quinn, so she didn't think there was any point in lying about that. She could tell them she knew nothing of Quinn being the Slayer, but if they had seen her on patrol, they would obviously see right through that lie as well. The only thing she could think to do was keep her mouth shut and hope Quinn found her before she lost any appendages or was killed by them.

* * *

><p>Quinn yawned and rubbed her eyes; Brittany was falling asleep on her shoulder and Santana was pacing around the room. They had been up all night, going everywhere around town, trying to find Rachel. They looked all over town, looking in cemeteries, the school, and abandoned buildings, but they had no luck. Brittany was going to try a locator spell, but she needed supplies and the metaphysical store wasn't open for another few hours. Even once she got what she needed, it would probably take a while for her to do the spell.<p>

They had tried contacting everyone else in Glee, just in case, but no one had seen or heard from Rachel. Most people were asking why they were calling so late at night, so Quinn had to lie; she didn't think she was very convincing, though, especially when it came to Puck, but she was afraid to tell him. She didn't want him wandering the streets at night because then he would probably be the next to disappear, so she made him promise not to do anything stupid. They had been home for an hour now after running out of places to look; she was so tired after being up all night, but she was too worried to sleep.

"Hey." Quinn jumped when something smacked her in the forehead. "Not that I care, but didn't school start like an hour ago?"

Quinn looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Yes."

She didn't want to go to school; she wanted to look for Rachel, but she honestly didn't know where to look at this point. There were only so many places they could go; if they had her in a house or out of town, they would probably never find her. Quinn was trying to stay positive, but it was hard. Mostly, though, she was trying not to cry. Rachel meant everything to her at this point and if anything truly happened to her, she didn't know what she would do.

"Britt," Quinn said, nudging the blonde.

"What?" Brittany said, rubbing her eyes as she looked at Quinn.

"Do you want to go to school?" Quinn asked.

Brittany shook her head and then laid it back down on Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn sighed and looked up at Santana. "Can you make sure she gets to the store?"

Santana nodded. "You're going to school?"

"I need to do something to take my mind off this," Quinn said, gently removing Brittany's head from her shoulder.

Quinn knew she looked like crap, but she didn't really care; she went upstairs and threw on a clean shirt, not bothering with anything else, though. When she came back down, Brittany was curled up on the couch and Santana was putting a blanket over her.

"Call me if you hear anything," Quinn said, putting her coat on.

Santana nodded and Quinn turned, leaving the house. It was already halfway through second period by the time her car pulled into the parking lot. She was supposed to have been at school early to meet Sue and the two from the Watcher's Council, so she knew she was going to be yelled at. She had bigger things to worry about, though, and she really didn't give a damn what any of them said to her.

She was walking toward her second period class when her name was called out. She stopped, sighed, and slowly turned around. Sue was at the end of the hall with her hands on her hips, glaring at Quinn.

"Training room," Sue stated. "Now."

"I'm late for class," Quinn said, shrugging, but Sue just glared more, so Quinn sighed again and walked toward her.

Halfway there, Sue turned and marched toward the training room. Quinn followed her even though she would rather do anything else right now. When she walked into the room, three people were staring at her, none of them looking very impressed or happy.

"Where have you been?" Sue asked.

"Emergency," Quinn stated.

"What kind of emergency," Mr. Walsh asked, pulling out his pad of paper.

Quinn sighed, really not wanting to discuss this with them, but there really seemed no point in lying to them, and besides, she didn't have energy to think of a lie right now. "One of my friends is missing."

"Who?" Sue asked.

"Rachel," Quinn replied.

"Oh good; I was thinking of making Brittany head Cheerio and that wouldn't work if she was dead," Sue replied.

"Rachel isn't dead," Quinn stated angrily.

"Watch your tone, young lady," Sue said, pointing a finger in her face.

Miss O'Connell cleared her throat, looking a little uncomfortable. "Shall we start?"

"Yes," Mr. Walsh said.

Miss O'Connell produced a piece of paper form her briefcase and handed it to her partner. Quinn frowned, wondering what she was going to have to do now.

"Fill this out to the best of your ability," he said, handing Quinn the paper.

She looked down at it, flipped through the pages, and sighed. They were making her take an exam; it even had multiple choice and essay questions. This was the last thing she needed; all she could do was think of Rachel and now these people were making her take some stupid test. She sighed again, wishing she had just skipped school completely.

* * *

><p>She didn't know how long she had been there, but she figured it had to at least be morning by now. At some point in the night, she had fallen asleep; she tried to stay awake and be alert, but exhaustion eventually won out. She wasn't sure how long she was out or even how she ever managed to sleep on the hard, cold floor. When she woke up, though, she was shivering; there was no source of heat in the room, and the temperature dropped throughout the night. She had her coat on, but she had worn a skirt to school, so she had nothing to cover her legs, and curling up into a ball only did so much.<p>

After being awake a little while, she began nodding off again. A loud bang made her bolt upright, though, and she heard footsteps coming her way. She hoped they would pass by like all the other times, but she saw from their shadow that they stopped outside the door, and then she heard the sound of the door being unlocked. Instinctively, she scooted toward the corner of the room, trying to put as much space between her and the vampire, who was coming toward her.

"Stand up," he demanded, and Rachel did as he said before he could force her to do it. "Follow me."

Rachel took a few hesitant steps and reluctantly followed the vampire out of the room and into the hall on the other side of the door. The light was still very dim, the only source coming from the sparse sconces along the wall. There were windows in the hallway, but they had been completely blacked out, so no light could come in.

"Keep up," the vampire barked, grabbing her arm, and pushing her in front of him.

When they got to the end, he pushed her toward the stairs on the right. As she walked up, she was instantly aware of how much the feeling of the room changed and it got physically warmer as she ascended the steps. Whereas downstairs was barren and dank, there was much more décor in the hallway she found herself in. There were paintings along the walls and it was much brighter, looking more like someone's home. She was looking around, trying to memorize everything, when she was roughly pulled to a stop outside one of the doors.

The vampire knocked on the door. "Mistress, I've brought her."

Rachel felt all the blood drain out of her face as the woman inside said, "Enter."

Rachel wanted to run, but the vampire had a tight grip on her shoulder and he was already opening the door and pushing her inside. She tried to step back, but she only backed into the vampire, causing him to shove her forward, knocking her to the ground.

"Go," the woman said, sounding angry.

She looked up at what she could only assume was Shelby Corcoran, former Slayer, current bad guy, and the vampire that killed and turned Santana. She was tall—much taller than Rachel—and had long, dark hair, intense dark eyes, and carried herself in a way that she practically floated as she walked toward Rachel. As Rachel stood up, she felt the vampire's intense gaze on her with every move she made; she squared her shoulders, trying not to appear too intimidated even though she was completely terrified.

"I take it introductions are not necessary," Shelby said, circling behind Rachel.

"No," Rachel replied with a shaky voice. "I know who you are."

"Good," the vampire said, standing way too close for Rachel's comfort. "We can skip the pleasantries then and get straight to business."

Rachel wondered what business the vampire could possibly have with her, but she figured it was probably just vampire code for 'I'm going to torture you to death'. The vampire didn't look like she was going to be attacking her anytime soon, though, but Rachel figured that she was probably just trying to lull her into a false sense of security.

"Do you know why you're here?" Shelby asked.

Rachel cleared her throat and quickly shook her head. "No."

"No?" Shelby asked, crossing her arms over her chest, and tapping her fingers against her arm. "You're a smart girl; I think you can figure it out."

"I have a few theories, but I don't know if any of them are correct," Rachel replied. "Though I think it's safe to say I'm probably right about one of them."

"What's that?" Shelby asked with a smile.

"You're going to kill me," Rachel said, finding the vampire's smile incredibly unnerving, but she was trying to keep her face passive and not show her fear.

"That depends on you," Shelby said with a shrug.

"Of course it does," Rachel whispered to herself.

"Look, I just want to talk to you," Shelby said, walking away from Rachel, and toward the couch in the middle of the room. "That's why I brought you here."

Rachel frowned at the woman's casual behavior; of all the ways she saw this going, this was not one of them. Shelby was just sitting on the couch, watching Rachel stand there, and Rachel felt like the vampire could see right through her. She knew it was ridiculous, but there was something strange about the way she was looking at her.

"Would you like something to drink?" Shelby asked. "Or something to eat? I imagine you're hungry since you have been here all night. I'm sure I could get someone to get something for you."

Rachel shook her head even though she would love something to eat and drink. "No, I'm fine."

"Sit," Shelby said, patting the cushion next to her.

Rachel walked over and sat down, afraid to make the other woman angry by refusing. She knew she needed to buy herself as much time as possible if there was any chance of her friends finding her. If she could keep the vampire talking, maybe she could delay her long enough and not die.

"I've been watching you," Shelby stated. "For several years, actually. Ever since I decided to come back to this town."

"Years?" Rachel said, turning to look at the woman.

"Of all the people in the world, you became friends with a Slayer," Shelby continued. "I was surprised when I was informed of your friendship; I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed. I must admit, though, you two have done better than I anticipated. When she killed Jesse, I lost my temper a bit; I thought her little friend would come to our side, but now she's living in your basement, which is a little curious. I think the Slayer is finally ready to face me; I sent those vampires as a test and she actually lived, but I wanted to talk to you first."

"What could you possibly want to talk to me about?" Rachel asked.

"About coming over to our side," Shelby replied.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "What makes you think I would ever do that?"

"Because I'm your mother, Rachel," Shelby stated

Rachel's mouth went dry as she choked out, "What?"

* * *

><p>Quinn tapped her pencil against her notebook, not listening to a word her teacher was saying. All she could think about was Rachel and how Brittany was coming along with the locator spell. Something inside told her the brunette was probably still alive; she didn't think it was a random attack considering it happened right outside her house. Someone had to be waiting on Rachel, which meant they wanted something from her and probably wouldn't kill her—not this quickly, anyway.<p>

The bell rang and Quinn quickly stood up, rushing out of the room. The other members of the Glee club had been stopping her all day, asking where Rachel was, and she was tired of not being able to answer their questions. Sue had also been looking for her, stopping her in the hall every time she saw her to chastise her about being late or not doing well enough or whatever else she could think of at the moment. She had no idea how she did on the Watcher's Council's test earlier, but judging by the look on Mr. Walsh's face, she probably didn't do very well.

"Quinn, stop," Puck shouted, hurrying down the hall.

Quinn sighed and turned toward the boy. "What is it, Puck?"

"Finn just told me that Rachel isn't at school today," Puck said, leading them to a more secluded corner of the hallway. "Where the hell is she? I know something's happened or you wouldn't have called me last night."

Quinn took a deep breath and looked around the hall, waiting for one of the football team to pass before she turned back to Puck. "I don't know where she is, okay? Kurt drove her home last night, but she never made it inside. Santana, Brittany, and I looked all over last night, but we couldn't find her anywhere."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Puck whispered harshly.

"I didn't want you out there, too," Quinn replied. "I knew you'd go out and probably get yourself killed."

Puck shook his head and started walking away. "You still should have told me!"

Quinn ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She really hoped Puck wasn't going to do something stupid now, but at least it was daytime and he would be less likely to be attacked by something. She still had about six hours before dark, and hopefully she could talk to him before then.

Her phone started vibrating in her pocket and she quickly pulled her phone out. "Hello."

"Hey, Q," Santana said.

"Did you find anything?" Quinn immediately asked.

"Hello, Santana, how are you doing? Good, I'm glad you asked," Santana said, causing Quinn to roll her eyes.

"I don't have time for this," Quinn said, sighing. "Just tell me if you've found anything."

Santana paused for a moment and then said, "Britt went to that weird magic store as soon as it opened. She's narrowed it down to a few miles; she's still working on it and says she should have it narrowed down by the end of the night."

Quinn leaned against the wall. "Tell her thanks. Call me the second she gets it narrowed down a little more."

"I might; I make no guarantees," Santana said before hanging up.

Quinn shook her head at the vampire and then walked toward her next class. Maybe sitting through another boring class would help her take her mind off things, but she really didn't hold out much hope. She knew she would just sit there thinking of Rachel and wondering if she was still alive, but there wasn't much else to do.

* * *

><p>"No," Rachel said, quickly standing up. "You're lying."<p>

"I'm not lying," Shelby replied.

"You have to be," Rachel said.

"What do you know about me?" Shelby asked.

"I-I know you were a Slayer," Rachel replied.

Shelby nodded. "I was sixteen. It was Easter when this man came up to me and told me I was meant to fight evil. I was only sixteen at the time and didn't believe him, of course, but then he convinced me. I'd been having all these weird dreams at the time and he explained I was seeing the past—I was seeing the lives of other Slayers."

"Why are you telling me this?" Rachel asked, shaking her head.

"I'm getting there," Shelby replied, standing up. "Being the Slayer was hard; long hours, always fighting for your life. I hated it, but I did my job because it's what I had to do. I got pregnant, though—with you—and everything changed. When I found out, I left town; I didn't want to do it anymore and I definitely didn't want a kid being brought into my world."

"My fathers found a surrogate," Rachel stated. "You couldn't possibly be my mother."

"They lied to you," Shelby replied. "I ran into your fathers one day and when they saw that I was pregnant, we started talking about how they were thinking of starting a family. I realized it was perfect; they wanted a child and I knew there was no way I could keep you, so we worked out a deal. They provided me a place to stay and once you were born, you were theirs. I left town right after I gave birth, but I didn't make it very far. I ran into a group of vampires and I don't know if it was from the pregnancy or what, but I wasn't up to my usual standards and they turned me into one of them.

"I would have thanked them after if I wasn't so busy ripping their heads off their bodies. Being a vampire is much better than you could possibly imagine. When I was the Slayer, everyone was telling me what to do, but now I can just kill anything I don't like—and believe me, I do." Shelby walked toward her and Rachel took a step back. "Getting turned into a vampire was the best thing that ever happened to me. It usually takes centuries to get the kind of power I have; it's amazing having hundreds of minions at your disposal."

Rachel looked away; she didn't want to believe the vampire, but something was telling her it was the truth. Her fathers had always been evasive about who her mother was; she had asked several times and they always told her the same story, but she had the feeling they were lying to her. Plus, Santana was right—this woman looked so much like her, just not as short and a lot paler. Though, they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter because, if Rachel did her math right, Shelby would have only been twenty-one when she died.

"Why do you think I brought you here?" Shelby asked. "If you were anyone else, I would have killed you by now, but there's this part of me that doesn't want that." She shrugged. "Call it maternal instinct or whatever. I'm giving you this opportunity to come to my side, because in a few months, there won't be another side. That little Slayer friend of yours isn't going to stop me; she and all her friends, including you, are going to die a slow and painful death."

"No," Rachel said, holding her chin up. "Quinn will stop you."

Shelby laughed. "You think so, huh? I think I'm going to drain every last ounce of blood from her body. The same with that little witch friend. And I'll rip every limb from that traitorous vampire's body until there's nothing left. No one will be safe; we'll tear this town apart, starting with you guys."

Rachel's heart was pounding in her chest as she thought about what the vampire was saying. She wondered how Shelby knew so much about them and how they never noticed they were being watched. Rachel backed away a little and wrapped her arms around her stomach; she was trying to block out the images she was seeing in her head of all her friends dead, but one image kept popping up—Quinn broken and bleeding.

"What if I don't want to join you?" Rachel eventually asked.

"Then that's your choice," Shelby replied.

Rachel nodded once. "I'm not joining you."

"Something told me you wouldn't," Shelby said. "This was your one chance, Rachel. The next time you see me, I will be killing every person you love, and then I will kill you."

* * *

><p>"You're late," Sue said, glaring at Quinn.<p>

Quinn pocketed her phone. "Sorry."

She wasn't sorry; she had been on the phone with Brittany. The blonde said she was close to finding Rachel; Quinn would be out there looking right now, but considering the part of town Brittany had narrowed it down to, she knew she wouldn't have any luck. All she could do was try to keep herself occupied so she didn't go crazy worrying about Rachel. The fact that Brittany was still getting a hit on Rachel, though, meant that she was still alive.

"Okay, let's gets started," Mr. Walsh said, looking at the clock. "Since we're behind, we'll skip the beginning and get straight to the most important part."

Sue looked at Quinn, glaring, and the blonde looked away, trying not to roll her eyes. She was getting more and more annoyed by her Watcher's behavior and getting incredibly tired of having to jump through hoops. She didn't even see any point in this; she was the Slayer and that wasn't going to change whether or not she did everything the Council wanted. They were sort of stuck with her until she died and some other girl was called.

"Alright," Miss O'Connell said, stepping forward, and clearing her throat. "We're going to ask you a series of questions, followed up by a little course we set up in your school's gymnasium. I think you'll find that it is quite challenging, so you might want to properly prepare yourself for it."

Quinn tried to not groan out loud, so instead, she clenched her jaw; she was tired of these people putting her through tests. Wasn't it enough that she had survived for as long as she had, without getting seriously hurt? There was absolutely no point in this and she felt like they were punishing her for something, though she had no idea what they would be punishing her for.

"Are you ready?" Mr. Walsh asked, looking down at the book in his hands.

Quinn's phone started vibrating in her pocket and the blonde quickly grabbed it to see who it was; Brittany's name was on her screen, so Quinn hit the accept button. "Hello."

"Hey, Q, I've f—"

The phone was jerked out of Quinn's hand by Sue and she stared incredulously at her Watcher as she put it up to her ear and said, "She'll have to call you back."

"Give me my phone," Quinn said, trying to keep her calm.

"You can talk to your friends after this is over," Sue replied.

"No," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I'm done with this."

"Excuse me?" Miss O'Connell asked, looking a little confused.

"I'm done with this," Quinn repeated. "Why are we even doing this? What is the point?"

"The point is to test you—"

"But why?" Quinn interrupted. "I'm the Slayer and you're stuck with me, so what's the point in testing me?"

"The Council would like to see how you are coming along," Mr. Walsh explained.

"Well, I'm done being tested," Quinn stated. "Give me my phone back."

"No," Sue said, stepping directing in front of her, and sneering down. "I am your Watcher; you will respect me and do exactly what I say. You're going to do their tests, every one of them, and you will not say a word about it."

Quinn laughed at the hypocrisy of it all. "I don't know how Watchers are supposed to be, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're a terrible one. You care more about the Cheerios winning Nationals again than training me. Do you have any idea what's been going on around here? You just want to look good in front of them, so you're pretending to be all concerned about my training when the truth is, I've gone days without seeing you."

"Really?" Mr. Walsh asked, looking at Sue.

"She's lying," Sue said with a dismissive wave. "I don't know what she's talking about."

"Don't suddenly pretend to be Watcher of the year," Quinn said, shaking her head. "You were an amazing cheerleading coach, but you're a terrible Watcher. If it wasn't for Rachel—" Quinn paused at the thought of the other girl.

Sue looked highly embarrassed as she said, "I think the slaying may be too much for her."

"I think we've seen enough here, don't you?" Mr. Walsh said, looking at his colleague.

"I do," Miss O'Connell answered.

"Thank you both for your time." Mr. Walsh paused in front of Sue as he exited the room. "We'll be in touch."

Quinn never intended to say all that in front of the Council, but she just couldn't do it anymore. Truthfully, she didn't want a different Watcher because she liked someone not looking over her shoulder every minute, but she couldn't pretend any longer. Her only priority now was getting Rachel back, everything else be damned.

As the door clicked shut, Sue was fuming. "How dare you—"

"Yell at me all you want," Quinn said, holding her hand out. "Just give me my phone first."

* * *

><p>As soon as she declined Shelby's offer, the vampire called for one of her minions—a different one than the one that brought her in—and Rachel was taken away. This one shoved and pulled her just as much as the last one, expect he was even less nice about it. She wondered if she was being taken somewhere to be killed, but the way Shelby talked, she was going to let her go. The vampire next to her was eyeing her quite a bit, though, and Rachel wondered if she was going to die anyway because of a hungry vampire. However, he led her down the stairs and into the room she spent the night in; she was pushed inside and the door slammed shut behind her.<p>

She took a deep breath and stood there, trying to figure out her next move, but it was only a few minutes and she heard the scrapping of the door being opened. As she turned around, a blindfold was forcefully put over her eyes and tied in the back, pulling some of her hair. She squeaked a bit when her upper arm was grabbed and she started getting pulled along. She didn't fight it this time, though, because she knew there was no point; they were much stronger than her and she would only get manhandled as they laughed at her. Plus, maybe they were actually taking her out of this place, which is what she wanted anyway, so why fight it.

"Is there any point in asking where you're taking me?" Rachel tried.

"No talking," a man barked.

Rachel sighed and she heard another door being unlocked and then a cold breeze hit her face. She sucked the fresh air into her lungs and then smiled as she exhaled. The air was freezing, but she didn't care; she had never been so happy to breathe fresh air. She spent the last day thinking she was going to die in that place, so being outside was a welcome feeling.

She didn't get to relish the moment for long before she was being pulled again. She was pretty sure there were two vampires with her because it sounded like there were two set of footsteps other than her own. Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard two doors opening at the same time and felt herself shoved into the back of a car just as someone started it up. Her shoulder hit the metal as she was pushed in and she hissed in pain; she quickly pulled her legs out of the way, though, afraid that the vampire would shut the door on them if she didn't.

The door slammed shut a moment later and then the passenger door opened and closed right. The tires squealed Rachel lost her balance, nearly falling onto the floorboards. With every turn, she got knocked around the car; she tried feeling for a seatbelt to strap herself in, but it didn't seem like the car was equipped with any. Instead, she tried bracing herself, which helped some, until they came to screeching halt and she went flying into the back of the driver's seat.

At first she thought the car was stopping, but it made a sharp turn and continued speeding down the road. She wanted to take her blindfold off and see where they were going, but she was afraid to even peak; with her luck, one of them would see her. They drove for a while longer, making a few turns, before making one final turn and coming to a stop. Rachel nervously waited as both doors squeaked opened; a moment later, her door opened as well and one of the vampires was grabbing her bicep, pulling her out of the backseat.

The blindfold was yanked off her head and Rachel blinked at the brightness of the streetlamps suddenly assaulting her eyes. She looked to her right; there were two vampires with her—both men, one with black hair and the other a blonde—and neither of them looked very happy. She swallowed thickly as they stared at her and took a step back when the dark-haired one came closer. He passed her by, though, and walked to the driver's side, opening the door, and getting in.

"You're lucky," the blonde said. "Mistress Shelby told us to deliver you alive."

The blonde vampire opened the door to the car and hopped in; they sped off in an unmarked, black car and Rachel watched them go. She turned around, looking at McKinley High, never so relieved to be in the school parking lot.

* * *

><p>As soon as Quinn got her phone back, she called Brittany; the blonde didn't have an exact location yet, but she was close, and it was only a matter of time. Sue was yelling at Quinn during their whole conversation, but she didn't care and wasn't even listening to her diatribe. She did remember hearing her say something about Armenia and her CIA training, though. After Sue left, Quinn stayed in the training room for a while, trying to blow off some steam. She spent most of the time taking her frustration out on the punching bag until she was soaked with sweat and her arms felt like they were about to fall off. It was dark by the time she left, finally deciding to go home and wait there for any news from Brittany.<p>

When she got home, Santana was in the kitchen, making a sandwich. She furrowed her brows at the sight and asked, "You're eating regular food now?"

Santana scoffed. "Hardly."

Quinn nodded and smirked. "Making a sandwich for Brittany, huh?"

"If you make one whipping sound, I will rip your throat out," Santana said, looking over her shoulder.

"That's kind of hard to do when you can't hurt people," Quinn retorted.

Santana glared at her. "I could find a way."

Quinn sighed and sat down on one of the stools, momentarily distracted by her banter with the vampire. "How close is Brittany? On the phone she sounded like she was close."

"She's got it down to a couple blocks," Santana said, shrugging.

The basement door opened and Quinn and the vampire both looked over; Brittany was standing in the doorway, looking nervous. Quinn frowned because Brittany never looked nervous unless Santana and Quinn were fighting.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked, jumping up.

"The pendulum stopped moving," Brittany stated.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked.

"I was using it to find Rachel, but it's not working anymore," Brittany replied, looking scared now.

"Does that mean—" Quinn couldn't finish the thought. "What does that mean?"

"She's either not there anymore or—she's not there anymore," Brittany said, ducking her head.

Quinn backed up, collapsing onto the stool she had just vacated. She ran a shaky hand through her hair and then rested her elbows on the island, cradling her head in her hands. She heard the sound of the front door opening and closing, though, and her head shot up. She knew it could very likely be Leroy; she ran to the door, nonetheless, but came to a halt in the middle of the hall.

"Hi," Rachel said, smiling, and stopping the moment she saw Quinn.

"Rach," Quinn whispered.

Quinn closed the distance between them and wrapped Rachel in a hug, lifting her off her feet. She held the brunette for a few moments and when she sat her down, Quinn brought her hands up, and put her hands on Rachel's cheeks. Without thinking, Quinn brought their lips together and closed her eyes, pulling Rachel close, and the brunette's lips began moving against hers after a moment.

"Rach!" Brittany screeched.

Quinn pulled away at the sound of her friend's voice and whispered, "What happened to you?"

"Kurt brought me home last night and before I made it inside, two vampires grabbed me," Rachel explained. "I was blindfolded, so I didn't see where they took me; I was thrown into a room and left there all night. They—they took me to Shelby. She tried to get me on her side, but obviously I refused, so she—she had me taken away."

"How are you alive?" Quinn asked, running her hand down Rachel's cheek.

Rachel looked over Quinn's shoulder for a moment before looking into her eyes again. "I escaped. They blindfolded me again and took me back to the car; along the way, they stopped, I got out of my bindings, and escaped while they were otherwise engaged. I was lucky."

Quinn wrapped her arms around Rachel, holding her tightly. "I'm just happy you're home."

Rachel gave her a sad smile before resting her head on Quinn's shoulder and sighing. "So am I."

* * *

><p><strong>Comments are always appreciated.<strong>


	15. Save Me, Berry!

**Chapter 15 – ****Save Me, Berry!**

"You call that a hit?" Sue bellowed.

Rachel watched as Sue continued to yell at Quinn; the woman had been insufferable since the incident with the Watcher's Council. At first Quinn had been reluctant to tell her what had happened, but after several incidences with Sue, she finally told her everything that had happened while she was gone. Rachel assumed Sue would get better with time, but it had been two weeks and the woman was still picking at every little thing Quinn did. She could understand why the older woman was angry, but she also thought Quinn was right in saying what she did. She was a little disappointed in Quinn for yelling at her Watcher, but Rachel thought she had a legitimate complaint and really couldn't fault her for getting fed up.

"I'm going to my office," Sue said, glaring at Quinn. "Do a hundred sit-ups while I'm gone and remember that I see everything."

Quinn rolled her eyes the moment the door was closed. "Another fun filled day."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, feeling terrible for the blonde.

"It's not like it's your fault," Quinn said, sitting on the floor.

"Well, if I hadn't been taken, you wouldn't have been going through so much that week, so it actually is my fault a little bit," Rachel reasoned.

Quinn laughed and she did her first sit-up. "Yes, it's all your fault for getting kidnapped."

"Okay, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid," Rachel said, huffing.

She knew she was being ridiculous, but part of her did feel responsible for what happened. If she had been a little more careful, she wouldn't have been grabbed by Shelby's minions, and maybe they could have avoided everything.

"So," Quinn said, pausing for a moment. "I've been thinking."

Rachel's eyebrow rose. "Yeah?"

"I think we should—maybe do something tonight," Quinn stated.

"What kind of something?" Rachel asked, furrowing her brows.

"Dinner," Quinn replied. "Maybe a movie or something."

Rachel smiled. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"Yes," Quinn replied. "You know—if I don't have to stop some evil monsters tonight."

"Yes, I would happily go out with you tonight," Rachel answered.

Quinn smiled and then continued doing her sit-ups; Rachel smiled back and grabbed her bag from the floor to make sure she didn't have any missed calls. When she saw that she had none, she threw her phone back in her bag and looked at Quinn, watching her as she did as Sue had instructed. She looked away after a while, though, and focused on the bookcase to her right.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," Rachel lied.

"Okay," Quinn responded after a few beats.

Rachel could tell by the tone of her voice that Quinn didn't believe her; she didn't have the energy to convince her, though, so Rachel continued to run her eyes over each book, looking at the titles.

She hated this. She hated lying to Quinn, but she had and now she didn't know what to do about it. She knew Quinn would probably find out sooner or later, but she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Shelby Corcoran, the vampire that was trying to kill them all, was her mother. It felt impossible to say the words aloud, which was one of the reasons she failed to tell Quinn. The other was because she was worried about what might happen. It would put an even bigger strain on them and she didn't want that. When Quinn and Shelby finally came face-to-face, Rachel didn't want Quinn to hesitate. It could mean life or death for her and Rachel didn't want to be the cause of any distraction. So she lied. She didn't tell Quinn about Shelby and she wasn't going to tell her until she could figure things out.

It was killing her, though; she couldn't stand lying to Quinn and every time she looked into her eyes, she felt guilty.

The door opened and slammed shut, causing Rachel to jump. She turned her head to see Sue standing there, her arms crossed, and a scowl on her face. It was a look Rachel was completely used to; every time she saw the woman lately, she seemed to be in this very position—at least ever since the Watcher's Council put her on probation and started keeping close tabs on her.

"I have been informed by the Council that there have been attacks in Healy Woods," Sue announced.

"How do they know?" Rachel asked. "I haven't seen anything on the news."

Sue clenched her jaw. "You will go there tonight and see if you can find anything. Report back to me first thing in the morning."

Quinn sighed but nodded.

"Go right now," Sue ordered.

Quinn stood up as Sue left the room. "So much for that date."

"Yeah," Rachel replied.

"Maybe tomorrow," Quinn said, looking at her with a soft smile.

"Maybe tomorrow," Rachel echoed.

* * *

><p>As they walked through the dark forest, Rachel stayed close to Quinn, the sword in her hand ready to strike if something jumped at her. They didn't know what they were looking for since Sue had given them no information to go on, but it was very likely she didn't have any more information. Rachel did a quick search when they went home and found a few blurbs about an attack in the woods; it didn't seem like anyone had been killed yet, but if something was there, it was probably only a matter of time.<p>

"I really hope this turns out to be a bear or something," Quinn said, pausing to look around.

"Would that really be any better?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shot her a smile. "Well, I'm used to fighting demons."

"That's true," Rachel replied, smiling back. "Do you have any idea where are we going?"

"Not a clue," Quinn replied, shining her light around. "Left or right?"

"Left," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Then I know exactly where we are going," Quinn replied.

"And where is that?" Rachel asked.

"Left," Quinn said, smirking.

Rachel rolled her eyes and bumped her shoulder into Quinn's. "You think you're so clever."

"Correction, I know I'm clever," Quinn joked.

"More like cheesy," Rachel joked back.

"Yes, that would probably be a more accurate description of me," Quinn said as she turned left, leading them further into the woods.

With every step she took, Rachel felt a sense of foreboding and she didn't really know why. They had been in this very situation before, walking around in the dark woods, but she felt like something bad was about to happen. She tried to push it to the back of her mind, though, and told herself that it was just a side effect from the kidnapping.

"What was that?" Quinn asked, stopping in her tracks.

"Sorry, my phone is vibrating," Rachel said, reaching into her pocket. "Brittany sent me a text message."

Quinn took a deep breath. "She really needs to not text when we're hunting in the pitch-black woods for monsters."

Rachel chuckled. "I'll be sure to remind her later."

"What does she want?" Quinn asked. "Please tell me she doesn't want to know where the AA batteries are again."

"No, she sent me a link," Rachel said, furrowing her brows.

"Is it another one of her cat cleaning?" Quinn asked,

Rachel clicked on the link and was surprised to find that it was actually something relevant. "It's a news report on the attacks. Several hikers have reported being attacked by a large, bearlike creature, though several have said they don't believe it to be an actual bear. The first attack was eight days ago and the last was just yesterday. Most have sustained scratches and one was bitten by it, but none have died so far; they were all treated at the hospital and released."

"Did you just see that?" Quinn asked.

"She what?" Rachel asked, looking up from her phone.

"Over there," Quinn said, shining the flashlight to their right.

Quinn started walking and Rachel hurried along to follow after her as she asked, "Wouldn't we have heard something if it's the thing we're looking for? I mean, it doesn't sound like it would be terribly stealthy."

Quinn shook her head. "It wasn't that. It was more—small and sparkly and looked like it was flying."

Rachel's eyebrows rose. "Okay."

"I know it sounds crazy," Quinn said, glancing back at her.

"No," Rachel said, shaking her head. "After the things we've seen, I would believe you if you said you saw a three-legged unicorn-dolphin hybrid."

Quinn laughed. "I really hope I never see that. Oh—there it is again."

Quinn took off again, this time jogging, and Rachel had to run to keep up as she ran through the woods. She had no idea where they were going and nearly tripped over a fallen branch as she tried to catch up to the blonde.

"Is this really a good idea?" Rachel yelled after the other girl.

Quinn didn't answer; instead, she picked up the pace and Rachel was falling behind. The blonde was much faster than she was and seemed to be able to weave around the branches with ease. Rachel was afraid she was going to lose her, but as long as the flashlight remained in Quinn's hand, she could find her. When Quinn finally stopped running, Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she continued to run toward her. She stopped next to her, clutching at her side, trying to breathe deeply.

"It went in the tree," Quinn stated.

"_In_ the tree?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded as she rounded the tree, running her hand along the rough bark.

"I think it's safe to assume it isn't what we were sent out here to look for," Rachel commented.

"No, this was something else," Quinn replied, shining the light up, toward the top of the gigantic tree.

"Maybe we should go," Rachel said, looking around. "I have a bad feeling about this. Please, Quinn."

"Okay," Quinn said, taking a step toward Rachel, and taking her hand.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Thank you."

They took a few steps away from the tree when she heard it; she wasn't quite sure what it was, but they both turned toward the noise, which seemed to be coming from within the tree. Rachel took a step away and tugged on Quinn's hand hoping she would do the same, but the blonde let go of her hand a took a step in the other direction.

"Quinn, we should really—"

Rachel stopped talking as a bright, purple light filled her vision; she closed her eyes and covered her face with her arms. The light lasted for only a few moments and when it was over, Rachel lowered her arms, looking around.

"Quinn?" Rachel said, looking around. "Quinn!"

* * *

><p>Rachel slammed the door and ran toward the basement door. Her father was in the kitchen, sitting at the island, reading a book, so she slowed down as she walked into the room. She didn't want her father asking why she was in such a hurry; she really didn't have the time to waste.<p>

"Hi, honey," Leroy said, putting the book down. "How was your day?"

"It was fine," Rachel lied. "I think I aced my algebra test"

He smiled at her. "That's wonderful."

"I was just heading downstairs to see if Santana wanted to go out to eat," Rachel said, backing toward the door.

Leroy nodded and looked at his watch. "Make sure you girls aren't out too late."

"We won't be," Rachel replied.

Luckily for Rachel, her father generally took sleeping pills and had no idea how late they usually stayed out.

The moment the door was closed behind her, Rachel hurried down the stairs, hoping Brittany and Santana were decent. She was relieved to find them on the bed, but clothed; she walked toward them and grabbed the remote control from beside Santana, turning the television off.

"We were watching that," Santana snapped.

"Where's Quinn?" Brittany asked.

"She's gone," Rachel said, her voice edged with panic. "We were in the woods and she started chasing something; we were at this tree and I had a really bad feeling, so we were going to leave, but then we heard this noise and she turned back. Next thing I know, there was a light and when it was over, Quinn was gone."

"What the hell is it with you two disappearing?" Santana said, standing up.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Santana, we really do not have time for this right now; I need you to come with me."

Brittany jumped up, grabbing her coat, and was already halfway up the stairs before either of the brunettes responded. Rachel was the next to go, knowing that if Brittany was going, Santana wouldn't be far behind.

"What happened after?" Santana asked the moment they were all in the car.

"I looked for her, and when I couldn't find her, I ran," Rachel replied.

"Way to go," Santana deadpanned.

"What was I supposed to do?" Rachel asked. "She wasn't there, and I couldn't exactly do anything out there, on my own."

"Why the hell didn't you just call us?" Santana asked.

"Because, Santana, there are at least two known things out there and who knows how many that I am unaware of, so I didn't think it was wise to be out there with just a sword," Rachel said, huffing. "I'm not a Slayer or a witch or a vampire like you three—I'm human."

"Leave her alone, San," Brittany said, glancing at the passenger seat. "Rachel's right; it was smart of her to get safe or they might have both poofed without anyone knowing where they were or anything."

Santana crossed her arms and slouched in her seat, not saying anything the rest of the ride to Healy Woods. The whole ride, Rachel wondered if she would be able to bring them back to the spot that Quinn disappeared. She tried to memorize it on her way back, but she was lucky to have even made it out; when she came out of the woods, she had to walk along the road for twenty minutes before she found Quinn's car at the side of the road.

"Are you going to move your ass or are you just going to stand there?" Santana asked.

Rachel turned to look at the vampire and then turned her head back, and walked into the forest. She tried taking the same back as earlier, look down to see if she could see their footprints or any other sign that she was on the right track. The further she went, the more she knew she was lost and probably nowhere near where she and Quinn were.

"I'm getting tired," Brittany said.

"We've been out here for fucking hours," Santana said, glaring at Rachel when she turned around to look at her two companions. "Do you have any idea where the hell you are going?"

Rachel sighed. "No."

"That's wonderful," Santana said, throwing her hands up. "How the hell are we supposed to find Quinn if you don't even know where you're going?"

"I don't know, okay!" Rachel yelled, surprising Brittany and Santana if the looks on their faces were anything to go by. "I don't know. I thought maybe I would know it if I saw it, but we walked around for a while and I just don't know, okay."

"Maybe we should go home," Brittany suggested. "The sun is going to be up in a few hours and San can't be out here then."

"Yeah, and who knows how long it's going to take us to get out of this damn place," Santana added.

Rachel nodded. "Okay."

"We'll find her, Rach," Brittany said, putting her arm around Rachel, and pulling her close.

* * *

><p>Rachel was sitting in class, two books open in her hands; she had her Chemistry book in the back and one of Miss Sylvester's books on the inside. She needed to appear as if she was reading for class, but really she was doing research. She wanted to be out there right now looking for Quinn, but she knew if she missed school, Principal Figgins would call her father and then she would be grounded, which would make everything worse. She didn't need her father to start asking questions now because she wouldn't be able to answer any of them.<p>

Tina was sitting next to her and kept shooting her strange looks; she'd lied and told everyone that Quinn was sick, but she had the feeling the girl next to her didn't believe it. She tried to act natural, but it was hard when she was so worried about Quinn—worried whether or not she was still alive. Rachel knew Tina had seen the book in her hands because she nudged her when their teacher neared, allowing Rachel to hide her reading material. She flashed the girl a grateful smile—or as much of a smile as she could muster.

When the bell finally rung, Rachel gathered her stuff, glancing up when she became aware that Tina was looking at her. She looked back down, throwing her books in her backpack, but she could feel the other girl's eyes still on her.

"Is something wrong, Tina?" Rachel asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Tina responded.

"Everything is fine," Rachel lied.

"Where is Quinn?" Tina asked.

"She's out with the flu," Rachel replied.

Tina nodded. "Okay."

By the tone in her voice, Rachel got the feeling that Tina didn't believe her, but she was sticking to the story. She didn't know why, but she also had the feeling that Tina knew more than she let on. How, though, she didn't know, and she wasn't going to ask the other girl about it and make her suspicious.

Rachel shouldered her bag and left the room, walking through the halls to the cafeteria. She sat down at her usual table, not bothering to stand in line to get something to eat. She was too worried about Quinn and didn't think she would be able to keep anything down. Puck and Finn were the first two to approach the table and Kurt and Mercedes were right behind them. Kurt sat to her left while Puck sat across from her; the moment his tray hit the table, he looked over at her, furrowing his eyebrows ever so slightly.

"Where's Quinn?" Kurt asked.

"She had the flu," Rachel automatically replied.

She glanced up at Puck and his face made it clear that he knew something else was going on.

"That's weird," Finn commented. "I've never known her to be sick."

"There's a first time for everything, dude," Puck replied.

Tina and Artie came over next and the latter asked, "What's up?"

"Just talking about where Quinn is," Kurt answered.

"Where is Quinn?" Artie asked, looking around.

"Flu," Puck answered for Rachel.

"She seemed perfectly fine yesterday," Artie remarked.

"Well, you know how the flu can be," Rachel replied. "One minute you're fine and the next you're miserable." Rachel cleared her throat. "So, has anyone started this week's assignment for Glee?"

"Yes, and I do believe my performance this week is going to blow yours out of the water," Kurt said, smirking at her.

"No, but I'm sure I'll think of a song by Friday," Finn said, scratching his head.

"Dude, he told us to sing our favorite song," Puck said, giving him an incredulous look.

"I like a lot of songs," Finn said, shrugging.

"Just pick one," Mercedes advised. "It's not like Schue's going to know whether or not it's actually your favorite song."

"Coach is looking for you," Brittany whispered as she sat on the other side of her. "Oh no."

"What?" Rachel whispered back.

"She found you," Brittany mumbled.

"Come with me, Berry," Sue ordered.

The moment they were out of the cafeteria and in the hall, Sue rounded on her. "Where is she?"

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Quinn," Sue stated. "She missed training this morning. Where is she?"

"She's—"

"I swear, if she did something stupid to make me look bad to the Council, I will make sure it's the last thing she does," Sue threatened.

"Sick," Rachel finished. "She's sick. She has the flu. I'm afraid it's my father's fault; he got it from work and must have given it to Quinn."

Sue gave her a withering glare before walking away without saying another word. Rachel let out the breath she had been holding and rubbed her hand over her face.

* * *

><p>Santana laughed. "You lied to Coach Sylvester? Are you suicidal? She's going to kill you when she finds out the truth."<p>

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Santana; that's exactly the kind of thing I need to hear right now. I panicked, okay?"

"Why are you calling, anyway?" Santana asked.

"I wanted to let you know that Brittany and I are on our way to the woods," Rachel said, wishing she had just sent Santana a text instead of actually calling her. "Brittany didn't want you to worry when we don't get home at our usual time."

"Like hell you're going out there," Santana bellowed.

"Santana, I know you're worried that something will happen to us—well, Brittany—but we agreed it would be better if we could go while it was still light out, and since you can't be in the sunlight, it left us no other choice," Rachel calmly replied.

"Put Brittany on the phone," Santana demanded.

"She is currently driving and I do not believe the distraction would be advisable," Rachel stated.

"We'll be okay, San!" Brittany yelled, leaning toward the phone.

"Hello?" Rachel said when the vampire was silent for far longer than usual.

"Berry, if anything happens to her, spell or no spell, I will ends you," Santana threatened.

Rachel nodded, though she knew Santana couldn't see it. "We'll keep each other safe."

Santana hung up on her and Rachel tossed her phone into her bag. She would feel more confident going into the woods with Santana as well, but her being a vampire made it impossible to go during the day, which is when they really needed to explore the area. She hoped they would at least be able to find where Quinn had disappeared, so she could mark it, allowing them to come back with Santana later. Rachel wanted to stop by the store to get something to make a trail from the area if they found it, but Brittany assured her she knew a spell that would do the trick.

"We should be there in a few," Brittany said, reaching over to fiddle with the radio.

"I just hope we have enough time before it gets dark," Rachel said, sighing.

"So—you never saw what Quinn was running after?" Brittany asked, glancing at her

"No," Rachel said as she stared out the window.

Brittany frowned. "But Quinn saw it?"

"I assume so," Rachel replied.

Brittany hummed. "I wonder if it was like something only she could see. Maybe because she's the Slayer or something."

"Maybe," Rachel said, sighing.

Brittany pulled to the side of the road, slightly down from where they were the night before, and Rachel quietly exited the car. Rachel grabbed a dagger out of her bag for protection and the two silently walked toward the woods. The forest was quite dense, which blocked out a lot of the sunlight, but at least Rachel could see where she was going. She glanced at the ground as she walked, hoping not to trip over any roots. At least Santana wasn't here this time to laugh at her when she inevitably did stumble over something.

"Keep an eye out for anything strange," Rachel instructed. "Let me know if you hear anything."

"How can you keep an eye out for a noise?" Brittany asked.

"Keep an ear out, too," Rachel said

Brittany nodded. "Okay."

"And don't run off after anything," Rachel added. "We need to stick together."

"Don't worry," Brittany replied. "I'm not going to run off or anything."

"Thank you," Rachel said, turning them a little bit to the left.

They walked on, going deeper into the woods, and hopefully getting closer to where they needed to be. Rachel was keeping a close eye on the time because she wanted to be out of there before it got too dark. Brittany said she marked the car so they could easily get back to it, but Rachel hadn't seen her do anything, so she really had no idea what she was talking about. She was trusting the blonde, though, and trying not to inquire about it.

She still hadn't come across the large tree or seen their footsteps anywhere when she finally came to a stop and sighed. "The sun is going to set soon."

"You want to go back?" Brittany asked.

"No, but we should," Rachel replied.

She wanted to keep looking for Quinn, but she was afraid to be out there with only Brittany. She knew the other girl was powerful, but she was still worried something might happen to her; other than the fact that Santana would probably make good on her promise, she didn't want to be the reason anything happened to her. Quinn was already gone and Rachel didn't want that to happen to any of her other friends. Plus, she would definitely feel a lot more comfortable out there with Santana, who seemed to be more observant than her current companion.

Rachel frowned as a thought occurred to her. "There are no animals."

"What?" Brittany asked.

"There are no animals," Rachel repeated. "I've been in here three times and I haven't seen any. I know it's winter and everything, but isn't that a little strange? It's not like everything disappears when it's cold; I saw squirrels in my backyard just this morning."

"What's that mean?" Brittany asked, looking at her.

"It means I have something else to research," Rachel replied.

* * *

><p>Rachel had several books open in front of her and her laptop; some of the passages were not in English, so she had to find an online translator. It was a slow process, but she was looking for anything to do with a purple light, people vanishing, and things that either ate or repelled animals. She already had a list of nearly a dozen possibilities and she had only been at it for an hour; none of them fit all three things, though, so she was still looking. Brittany was also helping with the research, but Santana was pacing around the room.<p>

They had debating whether or not to go into the woods and search again, but none of them knew if it would do any good. They had tried twice, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Healy Woods was on the outskirts of town, covering nearly ten square miles, so Rachel thought maybe their time would be better spent trying to narrow it down than to wonder around aimlessly.

"This is a waste of time," Santana suddenly said.

Rachel glanced up from her book. "I think finding out what we're facing would be prudent. It might give us a clue to where we should be looking and how to get Quinn back once we do find it."

"Fine, but what the hell am I supposed to do?" Santana asked.

"Help?" Rachel suggested.

Santana scoffed. "Reading those boring ass books puts me to sleep."

"So—do something else," Rachel said, sighing.

Santana rolled her eyes. "What am I supposed to—never mind, I have an idea."

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked as Santana grabbed her leather jacket from the back of the chair.

"I told you, I have an idea," Santana said, heading toward the stairs.

"What idea?" Rachel called after her.

"You'll see," Santana said over her shoulder.

"I really hope she doesn't do something stupid," Rachel mumbled.

"She won't," Brittany replied. "She just doesn't like being cooped up down here; it's one of the reasons she liked helping you and Quinn."

"And what's the other reason?" Rachel asked.

"I asked her to," Brittany said, shrugging. "I don't want you guys getting hurt, so I asked Santana to help you. I don't know if she really wanted to, but she does like fighting, so it's good for everyone."

Brittany went quiet, looking down at her book; a few minutes later, though, Rachel could see Brittany staring at her out of the corner of her eye. At first she tried to ignore it, but when it was obvious the blonde wasn't going to look away anytime soon, Rachel looked up at her.

"Can I ask you something?" Brittany asked.

Rachel nodded. "What is it?"

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked. "You've been a little weird lately."

"I'm just worried about Quinn," Rachel replied.

"No, before that," Brittany said. "You've been weird ever since you were taken by those vampires; I don't know if anyone else has noticed—maybe Quinn, though, because she totally cares about you. You've been sort of keeping to yourself and not talking nearly as much as you used to and you keep staring off into space like you're thinking about something really hard."

"Oh," Rachel said, surprised that Brittany was saying this. "I guess I've just been thinking a lot about things; until I was kidnapped, I don't think the reality of everything had really hit me, you know? I knew living here—being friends with Quinn—I knew it was dangerous, but—" Rachel sighed. "Listen, don't worry about me, okay? I'm fine."

"Okay, but you know you can talk to me if you're ever not okay," Brittany replied. "I'm used to listening to people because San won't talk to anyone else. She's always been afraid people would think she was soft, which she totally is, but in that way that she gets her feelings hurt but doesn't want anyone to know because she wants people to think she's strong, which she also is."

Rachel's eyebrows rose. "Well, I won't tell her you told me, okay?"

Brittany smiled. "Thanks. I don't think she'd be happy if she knew."

Rachel went back to looking at the book in front of her and Brittany grabbed the list of possible demons, so Rachel instructed, "Don't forget to write down the name of the book and the page it came from."

"I won't," Brittany replied.

* * *

><p>Rachel jerked awake at the sound of a slamming door. She rubbed her eyes and looked down to see that she had fallen asleep at the desk, in the basement. Brittany was across from her, still asleep, and Rachel looked to the stairs to see Santana walk down. She moved the cursor on her laptop, bringing it out of sleep mode, and saw that it was five in the morning. She had no idea what time she had actually fallen asleep, but judging by the crick in her neck, it had at least been a few hours.<p>

"Where have you been?" Rachel asked, her voice coming out a bit raspy.

"Out," Santana replied.

"Really?" Rachel sarcastically asked.

Santana rolled her eyes. "The bar."

"Quinn is missing and you went to a bar?" Rachel incredulously asked.

"Don't get your granny panties in a twist," Santana said, flopping down on her bed. "I went there to see if I could get information."

"And did you?" Rachel asked, perking up.

"Maybe," Santana replied, pulling out a piece of paper. "But not about what took Quinn. However, there was talk about whatever demon has been attacking the hikers. I tried to find out what else is in those woods, but it seems as if it's crawling with monsters. I wrote down the ones that were named; I was guessing on the spelling because in case you haven't noticed, demons are named some damn weird things."

"Thank you," Rachel said, walking over to Santana, and taking the piece of paper.

"The circled one is the one that been making itself known by using people as a scratching post," Santana added.

Rachel wrinkled her nose at the mental image. "I've never heard of the Dreyling."

"They made it sound like a sort of monster bear-wolf hybrid," Santana said, shrugging.

"Any news on why it's been attacking people, but not killing?" Rachel asked.

"No idea," Santana replied.

"So you were at the bar all night?" Rachel inquired.

"No," Santana answered. "I went to the woods, hoping for a little action."

Rachel's eyebrows rose. "Did you find anything?"

"Not a damn thing," Santana said, sounding disappointed. "For a moment I thought I saw something, but I think it was a bird or bat or whatever."

Rachel sighed. "Thank you for trying."

"Whatever," Santana replied.

Rachel looked at the list and walked over to the desk to see if any of the names matched up to her list of possible demons. Nothing matched up, though, and Rachel sighed to herself as she rubbed her eyes. She knew she needed to get a bit more sleep if she was going to make it through the day; she'd only gotten a few hours' sleep in the last twenty-four hours and it was really starting to catch up to her. Since she had become friends with Quinn, she was used to getting less rest, but it still considerable more than what she had slept in the last few days. She was starting to ache all over and she couldn't seem to stop yawning. Plus, before she and Brittany had fallen asleep, they had both been getting a little slap happy, laughing at random things that weren't all that funny.

"Do you have any idea if Dreyling is spelled correctly?" Rachel asked, pulling her laptop closer.

"Yeah, I made the floppy skin demon spell it for me," Santana replied.

Rachel typed it into the search engine and found a few hits; the first page she pulled up was a site she had come across before. There's was an artist rendition of what the creature was believed to look like, and Santana was right—it did look like a cross between a bear and a wolf. If its teeth and claws were like anything in the drawing, she had no idea how no one had died from the attacks.

"Is time for school yet?" Brittany sleepily asked.

"No, go back to sleep," Santana quietly replied.

Rachel heard the scraping of Brittany chair and looked over her shoulder to find the blonde crawling into bed with Santana. It only took a few moments, but her light snored were already filling the room. She turned back to the screen, skimming over the page for any pertinent information. The Dreyling was really the least of her worries right now, but if they did run across it while searching for Quinn, it would be good if she knew any weaknesses it might have.

"I'm going to see if I can get a bit more sleep," Rachel said, closing the lid to her laptop.

Santana stuck her hand up before putting it on Brittany's shoulder; Rachel walked past them with a yawn and went up the stairs. She was happy to see her father wasn't up yet, so she crept through the house as quietly as she could, and made her way to her bedroom. Her hand was on the doorknob when she turned toward Quinn's room, going into it, instead.

She walked over to Quinn's bed, running her hand along the comforter before pulling it back, and crawling under the covers. The pillow smelled like Quinn's shampoo, and as she breathed in the familiar scent, a tear slipped down her cheek.

* * *

><p>Rachel and Brittany walked into the main hall and the blonde ran off to her locker, leaving Rachel alone. Normally she would go to the choir room or the auditorium to rehearse since she was supposed to sing the next day, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. It was the first time in quite a while that she didn't feel like singing; the only other time in her life she could even remember that happening was after her father died. Singing was usually her way of getting through things and expressing her feelings, but without Quinn in the room with her, it just didn't feel right.<p>

Rachel sighed and made her way to her locker to grab her book for first period. When she passed Tina and Artie in the hall, they both waved to her, and Tina gave her a look of sympathy. She knew she probably looked terrible after getting only a few hours of sleep; when she looked in the mirror, she had dark circles under her eyes. She figured if anyone asked about it, she could either say she hadn't been getting much sleep because she was too busy taking care of Quinn or claim she was also coming down with the illness. With the way she looked right now, she didn't think anyone would doubt it.

When she closed her locker and looked at the time, she realized she still had about fifteen minutes until the bell rang, so she headed for the choir room. She threw her bag into one of the chairs, grabbed one of her books out, and sat down to research some more. If she could get by with it, she would sit in that seat all day, but she knew her teachers would report her for skipping class. She knew she was going to do like she did the previous day and hide the book during class.

"What's this?" Rachel said, looking down at the book.

Her eyes quickly scanned over the page and she took a deep breath. She stared at the book for a few more moments before throwing it back in her bag and heading out of the choir room. As she passed by Quinn's locker, she made the decision to go see Miss Sylvester; she wasn't looking forward to this conversation, but she needed the older woman's help.

She stood outside the door to her office for a few seconds before finally knocking. There was no response, but she knew the woman was in there since she was always in her office in the morning. Instead of knocking again, she opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind her.

"We need to talk," Rachel stated.

"Did I say you could come in?" Sue asked, staring down at some papers.

"Quinn isn't sick," Rachel said, trying to sound confident. "She disappeared the other night when you sent us into the woods."

Sue looked up at her and took her glasses off. "Excuse me?"

"I lied because I didn't want her to get in trouble," Rachel continued. "I realize this was stupid and maybe you could have helped me, but I panicked."

"Where did she disappear?" Sue asked.

"In the woods," Rachel answered.

Sue rolled her eyes. "Where in the woods, Berry?"

"I—I don't know," Rachel said. "After it happened, I left to get h—I left and I haven't been able to locate the spot again. I think I figured out what happened to her, though. I've been doing research and I think what took her is something called a Faelan." Rachel pulled out the book and opened it to the right page. "It's a sort of wood nymph and they usually only appear to one person, which explains why she was chasing after it, but I never saw it. They live deep in the woods, in a large tree, and usually in groups. They create more of their kind by casting a spell on humans, which turns the person into one of them. I think this is what happened to Quinn and why I couldn't find her."

"You've been going into the woods on your own?" Sue asked.

"Yes," Rachel lied.

"I want you to stay out of them," Sue demanded. "They're much too dangerous for someone like you; you're not a Slayer, you're nothing special, and you're going to get yourself killed."

"I—"

"Stay out of them until we know something more," Sue interrupted. "I'm going to contact the Council and they may be able to tell where the nest is."

Sue put her glasses back on and went back to what she was previously doing; Rachel knew she was being dismissed so she nodded and said, "Okay."

"Good job finding what it was," Sue said just as Rachel put her hand on the doorknob.

"Thank you," Rachel replied.

"If you ever lie to me again, though, I will personally make sure you suffer," Sue stated.

"Right," Rachel said before walking out the door.

* * *

><p>Rachel was hiding out in the auditorium during lunch; it was Friday and she couldn't wait for school to be over. She was tired of dealing with everyone asking about Quinn or asking if she was alright. It felt wrong lying to everyone and she hated doing it, but there was no other option. It was nice that they seemed concerned about her, though, and it actually felt like her friends cared about her, which was something she always wanted. Until Quinn came along, she hadn't had many friends; she had been friendly with a few people in Glee, but at the time it felt like they simply tolerated her presence.<p>

She'd had an English test earlier in the day and she was sure she had failed it. She hadn't been able to properly concentrate in class all week and it was no exception when she took the test. As much as she tried, her mind kept wondering to Quinn and if they would be able to get her back. It felt like all she had done this week was worry and she hated feeling so helpless. She had obeyed Miss Sylvester's demand that she stay out of the woods, but it was with much difficulty. She had gotten ready several times the previous night to go out there, but every time she would stop herself. Sitting in her house, doing nothing was incredibly difficult for her, especially now that she knew what had taken Quinn; she wanted to get out there and find her. Actually, she _needed_ to get out there and find her. She couldn't lose her best friend—the girl she was falling in love with—and she couldn't have the guilt of lying to Quinn haunt her for the rest of her life.

Her father had started asking where Quinn was, so Rachel had to lie to him as well and tell him that the blonde was off visiting her sister. Leroy seemed surprised that she would do it during a school week, but Rachel assured him that Quinn had gotten permission from her teachers to make up the work when she was back. She didn't know if he fully believed her, but he dropped the subject

"Is Quinn okay?" Tina asked.

Rachel looked up to find Tina and Kurt walking down the aisle. "She's fine."

"Then why do you look like that?" Kurt asked.

"Like what?" Rachel asked back.

"Like you've lost your best friend," Kurt replied.

"I'm just tired," Rachel said, shrugging.

"You missed Glee on Wednesday," Kurt pointed out.

"Yeah, I had to get home to check on Quinn," Rachel lied.

"If something was really wrong, you would tell us, right?" Tina asked.

"Of course," Rachel replied.

"Good because we're your friends and we're here for you," Tina stated. "And I know some of us were a little wary of Quinn when she first started hanging out with you, but she's actually pretty cool, so if something's the matter, I'd like to know."

Rachel shook her head. "Everything is perfectly fine. Quinn has been getting a lot of rest, so maybe she'll be back at school next week, and then you can see for yourself that everything is okay."

"Are you coming to lunch?" Kurt asked.

"No, I think I'm going to stay here and rehearse," Rachel said.

Kurt nodded. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us."

Tina gave her a sad smile and the two headed back up the aisle. Rachel watched as they went and breathed a sigh of relief when they left the auditorium. She had been afraid that they were going to stay in there all period, and she really didn't feel like having to pretend everything was okay for a whole hour.

"Where is Quinn really?"

Rachel looked over her shoulder and sighed. "What are you doing here, Noah?"

"Saw you weren't at lunch and figured I could get you alone," he said, shrugging.

"So you decided to hide behind the stage?" Rachel asked.

"I wasn't hiding," Puck said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I walked in and heard the other two, so I thought I would wait. So—where is Quinn? And don't give me that bullshit about her having the flu; you and I both know that's a lie."

"I don't exactly know where she is," Rachel said, sighing. "We went into the woods on Tuesday night because—"

"You were looking for that thing that's been attacking hikers," Puck interrupted.

"Exactly," Rachel replied. We didn't find it, but Quinn thought she saw something and she ran after it. Next thing I know, there's this light, so I covered my face, and when it was over, Quinn was gone. Santana, Brittany, and I have been searching for the spot she disappeared, but we haven't been able to find it."

"Do you know what the hell took her?" Puck asked.

Rachel nodded. "I think I found it the other day. It's called a Faelan and it fits the description."

"Well, let's go find her, kick the thing's ass, and get her back," Puck said.

"It's not that simple," Rachel said, standing up. "The woods are huge and there are quite a few things in them, some that we don't even know about, and I've been instructed to stay out."

"That's shit," Puck said, scowling. "You know she would do anything to find you if you were in there; no one would be able to stop her."

"You think I don't want to?" Rachel asked, raising her voice. "I know Quinn, though; she wouldn't want me or you to do something stupid. You know what I'm saying is true."

"Fine," Puck said, scowling. "But if she isn't at school by Monday, I'm going up there."

Rachel sighed; she wanted to go up there just as much as Puck did, but she was trying to be safe about it and trying to give Miss Sylvester a chance to get more information, but she was getting to the point that she didn't really care about the consequences anymore.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this?" Brittany asked. "Miss Sylvester did tell you not to do this."<p>

"Yes, well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her," Rachel replied.

Santana's eyebrows rose. "I'm almost impressed—almost."

"I couldn't wait around anymore," Rachel said, shining her flashlight around. "I told myself if she didn't have anything by the end of school today, I would come back here again. Besides, it's not like I'm out here alone; I have you two to help me. I obviously couldn't tell her that, though, because then we would all be in trouble, and she's already angry enough at Quinn."

"What makes you think we're even going to find it this time?" Santana asked.

Rachel sighed. "I don't necessarily think we will, but I at least wanted to try again, and at least we know what we're up against this time if we are able to locate it."

"Yeah, fairies," Santana mumbles.

"Do not underestimate them," Rachel instructed.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"Which way should we go?" Brittany asked.

"Straight," Rachel decided.

"Never," Santana replied with a smirk.

"Why n—never mind, I got it," Rachel said, ignoring the comment.

Rachel led them forward and Santana quickly took the lead; Rachel directed the vampire, so she was going in a direction she didn't think they had previously gone. She didn't see their footprints and she hoped she was leading them closer to where they needed to be. After a while, she noticed a tree to their left that looked familiar.

"Hold on," Rachel said, stopping. "Over there."

"Is that it?" Santana asked.

"No, but I think I saw it the day Quinn and I were here," Rachel said, heading over to it. "I remember it because of that weird knot near the bottom—and the fact that I tripped over one of its roots."

"Just tell me which way," Santana said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I think that—what was that?" Rachel asked, whipping her head toward the sound of the noise.

"Was that a growl?" Brittany asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied, and then the sound came again. "Definitely a growl."

"Over there," Santana said, nodding toward some overgrowth.

"It's probably the Dreyling," Rachel said, gripping her sword.

"How far away is the tree from here?" Santana asked.

"Not far," Rachel replied. "I tripped over this right before Quinn ran off."

"Okay, you two go find that tree and I'll take care of this," Santana commanded.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, San, I don't want you to get hurt," Brittany stated.

"I'll be okay, B," the vampire said, kissing Brittany cheek. "I'll be back before you know it."

She'll be alright," Rachel said, grabbing Brittany's arm.

Brittany looked worried, but followed Rachel nonetheless. The brunette walked from tree to tree, making her way towards where Quinn had vanished. She knew they must be getting close; she could practically see Quinn in her mind as she weaved in and out of the trees. Then she saw it—the giant tree with Quinn's flashlight still lying beneath.

"I thought I told you to stay out of here, Berry." Rachel froze and turned to see Miss Sylvester standing nearby with a scowl on her face. "And I see you even decided to turn it into a field trip."

"How did you find it?" Rachel asked.

"That's none of your business," Sue stated. "You disobeyed a direct order from me and brought Brittany along. What would possess you to be that stupid?"

"She's part of the plan," Rachel replied.

"What could she possibly do?" Sue asked. "Is she going to color them a picture?"

Rachel frowned, not liking her tone. "She can do a lot more than that."

She took the blonde's hand, leading her over toward the large tree; sighing, she looked and Brittany and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Ready," Brittany said with a nod.

"Give us Quinn back," Rachel said in a loud voice.

Sue scoffed. "Yes, that's going to work."

"Give us Quinn back or we'll burn your tree down," Rachel stated. "I don't want to do it; I know it's your home, so just give us the girl you took the other day, and we'll leave you alone."

"And how are you going to do that," Sue hissed into her ear.

"Like this," Rachel said, nodding toward Brittany.

The blonde mumbled something and then a fireball appeared in each of her hands. Sue looked slightly aghast and Rachel tried to contain her smirk; people were always underestimating Brittany.

"Give Quinn back in ten seconds or we will burn your tree down," Rachel loudly said. "Ten—nine—" Rachel was hit in the face by something and fell backwards, onto her butt. "Eight—seven—" She wiped some of the glittery substance off her face. "Six—five—" Her hand was covered in the stuff and her skin seemed to be absorbing it. "Four—three—"

There was a flash of purple light and Rachel closed her eyes until the light was gone. When she opened them, Quinn was standing in front of her, looking very confused.

"Quinn!" Brittany squealed, wrapping her arms around the other girl.

"What happened?" Quinn asked.

"We'll explain later," Rachel replied. "Let's just get out of here."

Quinn looked down at her and offered her a hand. "I know I was with you and then the next thing I know, I'm tiny and I was trying to get your attention, but I don't think you could see me."

Rachel smiled at her. "Let's get you home."

"I totally got the bitch," Santana said, jogging up to them. "I'm not going to turn into one of them if I get scratched, am I? Because that was one ugly ass—" Santana stopped when she noticed Coach Sylvester. "I'll be at the car."

Santana turned, quickly walking away, and Brittany scampered off after her.

"My office, tomorrow morning," Sue stated before also walking away.

"This is bad," Quinn said, sighing.

* * *

><p>When Quinn and Rachel walked into the training room the next morning, Sue was standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. Rachel knew Quinn was nervous, but she walked into the room with confidence. After Rachel told her everything that had happened and then called Puck to let him know everything was okay, they discussed what she was going to say to her Watcher. They knew she wouldn't be happy about other people knowing her secret, but that was nothing they couldn't handle. However, they also knew she was going to be furious with them for keeping Santana a secret.<p>

"Sit down," Sue demanded.

Quinn sighed. "I—"

"I'm going to talk," Sue interrupted. "I can't fathom why you would keep something like this from me. How long has Santana been walking around? And why would you trust her near your friends? I'm your Watcher and you're supposed to tell me these things, but you've kept this from me for months. And how long has Brittany known you're the Slayer? And what was that thing with the fire?" She paused, staring at Quinn. "Well?"

"Santana found out I'm the Slayer around the time Matt died," Quinn replied. "And Brittany found out after—when Santana came back. I didn't tell you about Santana because I knew what you would tell me to do and I just couldn't kill her, so I chained her up to keep her from hurting anyone. I don't know why, but she's different than other vampires; she hasn't killed anyone, and now she can't hurt anyone because Brittany put a binding spell on her."

"A spell?" Sue asked.

"She's a witch," Rachel quietly said.

Sue laughed and continued laughing for several minutes while Rachel and Quinn just looked at each other. Rachel didn't know what to think, but after a while she began wondering if Miss Sylvester had lost her mind. She'd never even heard the woman laugh before, but now she couldn't seem to stop.

"Are you alright, Miss Sylvester?" Rachel asked after a while.

"Brittany's a witch, Santana's a vampire, and everyone knows you're the Slayer," Sue said between laughs.

"Puck knows as well," Quinn said.

"Do you even know the meaning of a secret identity?" Sue asked, starting to calm down.

"It's not like she meant for everyone to find out," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

Sue shook her head and walked over, motioning for them to move over, and when they did, Sue sat on the other side of Quinn. The bench wasn't very big, so Quinn was scrunched up against Rachel; the blonde put her arm around Rachel, presumably to keep her from falling off the side since she was perched on the edge.

"I know I've been a terrible Watcher," Sue stated, and Rachel's eyebrows rose. "The life of a Slayer isn't as long as a normal person's and I've been trying to distance myself from you. I'll admit—I hoped you wouldn't be called, and when you were—I tried to stop caring about you. If you admit to anyone that I've said this, I'll deny it and then torture you, but I was wrong. I want to be a better Watcher to you—one that you don't feel like you have to keep secrets from." Sue stood up. "Okay; I'm giving you the weekend off, but I want you to be prepared to work hard Monday morning."

Quinn and Rachel looked at each other as Sue walked out of the room. Rachel didn't really know what to think, and it was clear by the look on the blonde's face that she didn't either.

"Do you know what this means?" Quinn asked after a few moments.

"You're finally getting a committed Watcher?" Rachel asked.

"It means we can finally go on that date," Quinn replied, smiling.

* * *

><p>"I have a question," Quinn said, glancing at Rachel.<p>

"Oh?" Rachel asked.

"I like you," Quinn stated. "And you like me."

"That's not a question," Rachel noted, giving Quinn a smile.

"I know we've had this unspoken agreement where we don't really talk about this, but I want to change that," Quinn continued. "I like you, and I think the last few weeks have shown me that anything can happen. I don't want to regret anything if something else were to happen to either of us." Quinn laughed lightly. "I am really bad at this, but—will you go out with me? And in case that wasn't clear enough, I'm asking you, Rachel Berry to be my girlfriend."

Rachel smiled, leaned up, and kissed Quinn's cheek. "You're better at it than you think."

"Is that a yes?" Quinn asked.

"That's a yes," Rachel replied.

Quinn smiled back at her. "I suddenly have a little more sympathy for every guy that had asked me out."

Rachel laughed. "Did you really think I would turn you down?"

"You're the one who always says you shouldn't assume," Quinn replied with a shrug.

"That is true," Rachel said, nodding. "Now I have a question. What exactly does being your girlfriend entail?"

"Whatever you want it to," Quinn said, stopping outside the movie theater, and turning to face the brunette. "I'm not a Cheerio anymore, I don't have my parents controlling my life, my two best friends are in a relationship with each other, and Kurt's as gay as a window and no one in Glee cares. Everyone else's opinions are irrelevant to me, so I'm not concerned about the rest of the school finding out."

"Are those in the demon world?" Rachel asked.

"I don't think there are going to be any vampires at school, so as long as we're discreet while on patrol, I don't think you'll be in any more danger than you already are," Quinn replied. "We just have to try to keep them from finding out as best as we can, but if they do figure it out, you know I'll do everything I can to keep you safe. The reason I've waited this long is because I was trying to protect you, but I realize now that even if I try, things are still going to happen to you and I'm going to have no control over it. I need to just live my life and hold onto any ounce of happiness I can find, because my life is going to be hard enough."

Rachel nodded and took Quinn's hand. "I know you'll protect me."

Quinn smiled. "I think we're going to be late for the movie."

"Well then let's go," Rachel said, smiling back.

Quinn walked to the short line and paid for their tickets; when she came back, she handed Rachel's ticket to her and held out her hand, which the brunette promptly took, entwining their fingers together.

"I'm going to head to the restroom," Rachel said as they walked into the lobby.

"Do you want anything from the concession stand?" Quinn asked.

"Can you get me a water?" Rachel asked. "And some Twizzlers?"

"Sure thing," Quinn replied.

Rachel walked into the restroom and walked to the sink to splash some cold water on her face. She was suddenly feeling very warm and a little clammy. She looked down at her hands, which were shaking, and jumped back when her skin lit up like there were millions of specks of light beneath the surface. She let out a tiny scream and rubbed at her arms, trying to make it go away; a few seconds later, the light went out and Rachel was left staring at arms.

She heard the door open behind her and Quinn asked, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Rachel whispered.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are always welcome.<strong>


	16. Out of My Mind

**Bee314: I was so happy to see that someone got the title! I've honestly been wanting to name something that for a year, but had to wait for the right moment to come along.**

**Nightlancer600: Maybe, maybe not…it was definitely a reference to him and his kind, though.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16 – Out of My Mind<strong>

"Do you know which one it is?" Rachel whispered.

"I think the Pattison family crypt is—" Quinn looked around and then pointed to the large mausoleum across the cemetery. "That one."

"Wow," Rachel said, looking at it. "They must have been very wealthy."

"That's what Miss Sylvester said," Quinn commented. "They supposedly have all these relics in there."

"And we're looking for a ring?" Rachel.

"We're looking for a ring," Quinn confirmed.

Sue had gotten word from the Council that a demon was after a ring, known as the Ring of Llywen, and she had asked Quinn to go there and get it before anyone else found it. The ring was rumored to have powers, but no one knew what those powers were. The fact that a demon was looking for it, though, meant it was of interest to the Council.

"I have a feeling it's going to take a while to find it," Quinn remarked. "Look at the size of that thing."

Rachel shrugged and smiled at her. "I can think of worse ways to spend my Monday."

"Really?" Quinn asked with a laugh. "I can't."

"You, me, hours alone in a room," Rachel said, her smile turning more into a grin.

Quinn hummed. "Well, when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so bad."

"It's all about perspective," Rachel stated.

When Rachel smiled at her again, Quinn wanted to lean over and kiss her, but it wasn't an option. They were doing their best to keep their relationship under wraps when it came to the demon world, so kissing in a cemetery wasn't the best idea. At school they were a little less careful, but they hadn't fully come out there, either. Most of the Glee Club had figured it out by now and the majority of their friends were happy for them—Finn being the minority—but they were a little more discreet when it came to the rest of the student body. It wasn't that either of them was afraid of it, but they were both enjoying having a relatively quiet high school life at the moment especially considering how their nights were usually spent.

As Quinn and Rachel walked toward the mausoleum, Quinn could see Rachel glancing at her out the corner of her eye. She knew this meant Rachel was going to say something, but was just waiting for the right moment. They were halfway to their destination when she cleared her throat and slowed her pace, so Quinn slowed down to stay next to her.

"So," Rachel finally said. "The Valentine dance is on Friday."

Quinn nodded, smiling inwardly, but kept her face passive. "Yes, it is."

"I was thinking—if you don't have plans to slay any vampires or save the world from evil—maybe we could go together," Rachel ventured.

"You want to the dance, huh?" Quinn asked.

"Yes, and preferably with my girlfriend," Rachel retorted.

"I'll think about it," Quinn said, breaking the lock to the mausoleum.

Quinn opened the door for Rachel and the brunette huffed as she walked inside; Quinn laughed lightly as she grabbed the flashlight from her bag and flicked it on, illuminating the dark room. It was a fairly large space and Quinn shuddered at the sight of all the cobwebs. As she figured, there several tombs inside, each of which they were going to have to look through if they wanted to find the ring. She wasn't looking forward to the task, so she decided to search out in the open first; there were several things lying about and she walked toward the closest thing.

"So, I've thought about it," Quinn said as she pulled off the lid to what looked like an urn. "I'll go."

"Really?" Rachel asked, beaming.

Quinn smiled back. "Really."

They both turned toward the door when a low growl sounded; Quinn immediately grabbed her sword and ran at the demon before it could head toward Rachel. It held its arm up, stopping Quinn's sword with the metallic bracers on its wrist. Quinn kicked its leg, but it didn't falter; instead, it elbowed Quinn in the face, knocking her off balance, and she went sliding to the floor.

"Quinn!" Rachel frantically said behind her.

"I'm fine," Quinn said as she stood up.

"Quinn!" Rachel said even louder.

The blonde glanced over her shoulder and the brunette's skin was glowing. "Oh god."

Quinn kicked the demon in the chest, knocking it back, and then stabbed it in the arm. The demon growled loudly and Quinn thought it was going to come at her again, but it turned and ran out of the mausoleum. Quinn dropped the sword and hurried over to Rachel; the brunette was trembling and Quinn had no idea what to do. This had only happened twice—now three times—but every time, it faded after only a few moments. This time, it wasn't going away so quickly, though.

"What's happening to me?" Rachel whispered as Quinn wrapped her arms around the brunette.

"I don't know," Quinn said, shaking her head.

* * *

><p>"Did you get the ring?" Sue asked, looking up from the book she was looking at.<p>

Quinn sighed. "No."

Sue took off her glasses, staring hard at Quinn. "Why not? Was it not there?"

"I don't know if it was," Quinn replied and then glanced back at Rachel. "We were at the mausoleum when—"

"It happened again," Rachel quietly said.

"The demon came in not long after we got there; I stabbed it and it ran off, so I don't know if it went back or not, but I took Rachel home and stayed there," Quinn continued.

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, hanging her head. "It's my fault."

"I'll go back after school," Quinn said, reaching back for Rachel's hand. "There's a good chance the demon didn't go back because it probably thought we were still there. Even if it did get the ring, I'll track it down."

Sue nodded. "What did this demon look like?"

"Big—it had gray, bumpy skin and horns near its temples," Quinn recalled. "And it was wearing armor."

"It sounds like a Wroan," Sue said, standing up, and walking over to the bookcase. "They fought a lot during medieval times, and most of them were killed off—some people even thought they were extinct—but there have been reports that some of them remained. Did it look like this?"

"In all its ugly glory," Quinn said, looking at the picture.

Sue nodded and looked at the book. "Maybe if we can figure out what the Wroan is up to, we can figure out what the ring does." Sue glanced at Rachel and then looked at Quinn again. "So what happened this time?"

"Same as last," Quinn replied.

"Light under the skin?" Sue asked.

Quinn nodded. "Except this time, it lasted a lot longer and she sort of started—fading."

Sue frowned. "Fading?"

"It sounds strange, I know, but that's the only way I can explain it," Quinn replied.

"Let me know if anything happens again," Sue instructed.

"I will," Quinn said.

"Meet me here after the final bell," Sue demanded.

Quinn nodded and the two talked out of the room, closing the door behind them. There were several Cheerios in the locker room and they gave Quinn and Rachel a look that clearly said they thought they shouldn't be there; the blonde looked right back, though, narrowing her eyes at them until they looked away. Rachel didn't even seem to notice the exchange and Quinn was glad for that; the brunette had been down since the previous night and she didn't need some bitchy Cheerios making it even worse.

She knew Rachel felt bad that they hadn't found the ring and felt responsible for it. After they went home, Rachel had told her to go back and look for it, but Quinn wasn't going to leave her alone after what happened. She was more worried about her girlfriend than finding the ring, though Rachel thought it should be the other way around and told Quinn her Slayer duties should come before everything else. Quinn disagreed and had informed Rachel that she wasn't going anywhere, so she could just save them both the trouble and not bother arguing about it.

"I think I like this new Sue," Rachel commented as they walked into the hallway.

"It is nice not being yelled at," Quinn agreed.

"I think I would have been the one to be yelled at," Rachel noted.

Quinn sighed. "Rachel, stop blaming yourself."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, shaking her head.

Quinn laughed lightly, stepping in front of Rachel, who abruptly stopped so she didn't run into the blonde. "And stop apologizing; you have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, this is really _my_ fault. I got caught by fairies and you got hit with fairy dust while trying to save me."

Rachel shook her head. "Nice try."

"What—it's true," Quinn said, shrugging. "It can't be your fault when it's my fault."

"You're so—" Rachel sighed and then smiled at her.

"What?" Quinn whispered, taking a step closer.

She could see a few people giving them a quizzical look, but she really didn't care. If they were going to the dance in a few days, the cat was going to be out of the bag, anyway.

"So cu—" Rachel stopped and held her hand up, looking at it. "Oh no."

"What?" Quinn asked in concern.

Rachel's skin started lighting up and Quinn's eyes widened. She immediately grabbed the brunette's hand and pulled her into the nearest bathroom, hoping no one in the hall saw what just happened.

"Out!" she nearly growled when she heard the door open behind her, and she immediately heard whoever it was turn and leave.

She kept her hand in Rachel's and kneeled in front of her as Rachel slid down the wall, to the floor. The brunette was shaking, and Quinn felt just as terrified as Rachel did, but she was trying not to show it. Instead, she repeatedly told Rachel that it was going to be okay and wrapped her arms around the other girl.

* * *

><p>Rachel wrapped her arms around herself as she walked beside Quinn. She wanted to stay home tonight, but Quinn wouldn't let her. She didn't want to get in the way like she did the night before; the blonde wouldn't listen to her, though, and told her she would never be in the way. Rachel didn't really believe it and figured Quinn was just being nice, but she wouldn't seem to listen, so Rachel relented in the end and went along with her.<p>

She was starting to feel completely helpless. She had no idea when she was going to have another 'incident' as she called it, and they were obviously getting worse and more frequent. The first two only lasted a several seconds, but the night before was much longer, and the incident at school was the worst of them all. She wasn't even really sure what happened—she sat there with her eyes closed until it went away—but by the look on Quinn's face afterward, she knew it wasn't good.

"Hold on," Quinn said, holding her hand out. "Let me check first."

Rachel stopped and waited as Quinn walked into the mausoleum; she turned around, making sure nothing was going to sneak up on her, but after a few moments, Quinn opened the door again.

"All clear," she said, stepping to the side to let Rachel in.

Rachel walked in and immediately set to work trying to find the ring; she wanted to find it as quickly as possible, so there was less chance of her messing things up again.

"It doesn't look like the Wroan came back," Quinn said as she walked across the crypt. "Things look the same as when we left them."

"That's good," Rachel distractedly said.

Quinn sighed behind her. "I hate to say it, but the ring is probably buried with one of these guys."

Rachel looked over her shoulder, scrunching her nose, and Quinn laughed.

"Don't worry, I'll look in them," Quinn said, resting her hand on the small of Rachel's back.

"I'll look over here while you do that," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed and moved her hand to Rachel's side, giving it a squeeze before walking to the nearest tomb. Rachel continued looking around, but all she found was a necklace, several very old books, a tiara, and multiple talismans. She tried to make a mental note of everything and where it was located in case they needed to do something like this again. It was odd to her that someone would want to keep all of this stuff in a mausoleum; if it was her, she would be passing it down to family instead of putting it in a place where no one would be able to use it.

"Not in that one," Quinn said, and Rachel looked back to see her wiping her hands off in disgust.

"Do you want to go to the mall tomorrow?" Rachel asked as she riffled through some gems that sat on one of the tombs. "We can pick out what we're going to wear to the dance. I mean, we do only have a few days left."

"If Sue doesn't need me to do anything else," Quinn replied. "Because I highly doubt letting me pick out a dress for the Valentine dance is going to be at the top of her priorities."

"It really should be; who cares about the world being saved if you can't dance," Rachel joked.

"We have company," Quinn suddenly said, and Rachel turned around to find the demon from the previous night standing at the door.

Quinn had brought her crossbow and she lunged toward it, firing an arrow toward the demon. The Wroan dodged it at the last moment, though, and ran at Quinn. She dropped the crossbow and pulled a dagger from her back pocket just as the demon slammed into her.

While it was amazing to see Quinn fight, Rachel hated it. She was terrified the blonde was going to be hurt and that there would be nothing she could do to help. Rachel usually tried to do the best she could, but she was only human, and she usually felt like she was only getting in the way and Quinn was just too nice to say anything. Quinn appeared to be winning this fight, though, and Rachel watched as she pummeled the demon before finally stabbing it with her dagger.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"I might have a few bruises tomorrow, but nothing too bad," Quinn replied.

"Well, I have some good news," Rachel announced.

"What's that?" Quinn asked, wiping off her dagger.

Rachel held up a ring. "I might have found what we're looking for."

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry," Tina said, looking over at Rachel. "I know you would rather be paired with Quinn."<p>

Rachel shook her head. "It's perfectly fine, Tina; Quinn is the one who missed class on Monday."

She glanced over at the blonde, who looked very unhappy with one of the football team as her lab partner for the week. Quinn had missed class on Monday because of Sue, and Rachel tried to ask the teacher if she could pair up with Quinn even though she wasn't there, but she was told she had to find a partner. She was perfectly fine working with Tina, but she did feel bad for Quinn.

Rachel grabbed her notebook, making note of something, while Tina walked to the cabinet to grab a beaker. She heard Quinn sigh and Rachel looked over, giving her a smile. Quinn rolled her eyes, showing her annoyance, and then smiled back at Rachel.

"Are you and Quinn going to the dance?" Tina asked, making Rachel jump.

"We are," Rachel replied with a nod. "Are you and Artie going?"

"No," Tina replied. "We were supposed to go, but Artie isn't very happy with me right now."

The bell rang and Rachel was cut off from asking why she and Artie were having problems; she hoped it was nothing serious because the two seemed like they were happy together. On top of that, she was afraid that it would cause problems within the Glee club, and with Regionals approaching, they couldn't afford the distraction.

"That guy is an idiot," Quinn said, approaching Rachel.

"That bad, huh?" Rachel asked.

"He makes Finn look like a genius," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye; there was a little girl standing at the door, looking at her. She furrowed her brows, wondering what a child was doing at a high school, and the girl continued staring at her. She looked like she was five or six years old and her clothes made her look like she belonged in the 1950s.

"Do you know who she is?" Rachel asked, looking at Quinn.

"She who?" Quinn asked.

"That little—" Rachel looked toward the door and the girl was gone. "She was right there."

Rachel frowned and hurried toward the door, peering out into the hall. She looked to the left and saw the little girl rounding the corner, so she ran down the hall just in time to see her walk into one of the classrooms. Rachel slowed down when she realized she was receiving strange looks and followed the girl into the room. When she walked in, the girl was sitting in the front row, staring at the chalkboard.

"Hello," Rachel softly said.

"Hi," the girl replied.

"What's your name?" Rachel asked as she approached her.

The girl looked up at her. "Veronica."

"Hi, Veronica, I'm Rachel," she said, kneeling down. "Does your mommy or daddy work here?"

Veronica shook her head. "No."

"Sister or brother?" Rachel tried again.

"No," she repeated.

"Are you lost?" Rachel asked. "Because you don't look quite big enough to be in high school."

"Rachel."

The brunette looked toward the door, where Quinn was standing with her brows furrowed. Rachel held up her index finger, indicating that she would be there in a second.

"I'll be right back," Rachel whispered to Veronica before she stood up and walked toward Quinn, who was still looking at her with a peculiar look on her face. "Is something the matter, Quinn?"

"Who are you talking to?" Quinn asked.

"Her name is Veronica and I'm trying to figure why she's here," Rachel replied.

"Who's Veronica?" Quinn asked.

"The girl," Rachel said, looking over to find the desk now empty. "Where did she go?"

"Rachel, there was no one there," Quinn stated.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.<p>

"You were talking to yourself," Quinn replied.

Rachel laughed. "No I wasn't; I was talking to a little girl."

Quinn wondered if Rachel was playing some sort of trick on her, but that wasn't like Rachel. She knew the brunette wouldn't lie to her, and practical jokes were not something Rachel was into. Once, during Glee, Puck had tried to put a whoopee cushion in Mr. Schue's seat and Rachel had called it "childish and uncalled for".

"Rachel, there's no one there," Quinn calmly stated.

"Well, not now," Rachel said, looking over her shoulder, into the room. "She must have slipped out the back door."

"No, listen to me," Quinn said, putting her hands on Rachel's shoulders. "When I came in, you were talking to yourself. There was no little girl in here with you."

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, looking confused. "She was just here a minute ago. She said her name was Veronica, and I think she was lost."

Quinn removed her hands from the brunette's shoulders and reached down, taking Rachel's hand in her. "Let's just go to lunch."

Rachel nodded. "Okay."

Quinn's mind was racing as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on. She knew Rachel wasn't talking to a little girl; she had been talking to the desk like someone was sitting there, though. It was obvious that Rachel really did think she was talking to someone, which was starting to freak Quinn out. She didn't want to worry Rachel, though, so she decided to try to act normal—or as normal as she could when her girlfriend was talking to imaginary people.

"Are we still on for tonight?" Rachel asked as they walked toward the cafeteria.

"For what?" Quinn distractedly asked. "Oh, the dresses. As far as I know; Sue hasn't asked me to go anywhere after school yet."

Though Quinn had a feeling that was going to change; she was going to talk to her Watcher as soon as she could, but she didn't want Rachel there, so she was going to have to do it when Rachel went to her next class. She wanted to know if anything else happened with Rachel and she wasn't going to keep this from her. Quinn needed to know what was happening to the brunette, and maybe the Council's resources would be useful. Sue was already looking into it, but things had definitely become more urgent.

Quinn bypassed the line, as did Rachel; Quinn wasn't very hungry after what just happened and the latter didn't usually eat the lunch the school provided. Everyone else was already at the table since the bell had rung nearly ten minutes ago.

Brittany waved as soon as she saw them walk in and Finn didn't look very pleased when he looked up. Ever since he had realized Rachel wasn't interested in him, he had been a little moody, and it only got worse when he realized there was something going on with her and Quinn. They had Kurt to thank for that, though; Finn probably wouldn't have ever figured it out, but Kurt blurted it out to him one day. Quinn suspected it had more to do with his crush on the clueless boy than his claim that he was tired of Finn looking confused.

"Sup?" Puck said the moment they sat down.

Rachel frowned at him. "Why can't you use the English language like the rest of us, Noah?"

"I did," Puck said, smirking. "Sup is a totally legit word."

Quinn watched Rachel closely as she argued with Puck over the validity of the word. She seemed to be acting completely normal, but she seemed perfectly fine earlier other than the part where she was talking to an imaginary person. Luckily Rachel was so busy debating Puck that she didn't really notice her, though Kurt seemed to. He just smirked at her, though, probably thinking she was looking at Rachel for other reasons.

"Is everything okay?" Tina whispered, leaning toward her.

"Huh?" Quinn asked, looking at the other girl.

"I asked if everything was okay," Tina said, looking at Quinn in concern.

"Fine," Quinn lied.

"Are you sure?" Tina asked. "I know we're not really friends, but—well, your best friend—" Tina paused. "I know Santana was your best friend and she isn't around anymore, so I'm just letting you know, if you need a friend or just someone to talk to, I'm here."

Quinn thought about it for a second and then she whispered, "Was Rachel acting normal during class?"

"As far as I could tell," Tina replied with a frown.

Quinn nodded. "Thanks."

* * *

><p>"Puck, wait a second," Quinn said, running to catch up to him in the hall.<p>

"What's up?" he asked.

"Will you do me a favor?" Quinn asked.

Puck narrowed his eyes. "What kind of favor."

"Look after Rachel for me," Quinn requested. "I need to go talk to Sue and—just, can you watch her?"

"What's wrong with Rachel?" Puck asked, suddenly looking concerned.

"I don't know exactly, but something happened a few weeks ago and something weird is going on with her," Quinn replied. "I don't really have time to explain it now, but earlier Rachel was talking to someone and—"

"What's wrong with talking to someone?" Puck interrupted.

"There was no one there," Quinn replied. "She said she was talking to a little girl, but when I walked in, she was talking to an empty desk. I just need you to watch her during Glee today and follow her home if you have to. Don't let her be alone right now."

"What am I supposed to say to her?" Puck asked.

"I don't know—tell her you need help with class or something," Quinn replied.

Puck shrugged. "Okay."

"Thanks," Quinn said. "If she asks where I am, can you tell her that I had to see Miss Sylvester about something and she told me to come alone?"

Puck nodded. "I'll do what I can."

Quinn gave him a sad smile before turning to find her Watcher. She tried going after lunch, but her World Civ teacher saw her in the hall and asked where she was going. She'd told the teacher that Coach Sylvester needed to see her, but her teacher told her she needed to be in class, so it left Quinn with little choice but to go to class. She tried again after the class, but she ran into Rachel in the hall and the brunette had insisted on walking her to class, which made it difficult to escape. So, she decided to skip Glee and go then, instead. Rachel would wonder where she was, but it was fairly common for Sue to request her presence in the training room right after school, so she didn't think the other girl would question it.

When she walked into the training room, Sue had an armful of weapons and Quinn gave her a quizzical look before shrugging and deciding she didn't really want to know.

"What are you doing here?" Sue asked. "Shouldn't you be dancing with the other misfits?"

"I needed to talk to you," Quinn replied.

Sue looked around. "Where's the dwarf?"

"I needed to talk to you alone," Quinn said, dropping her bag on the floor. "Have you found out anything?"

"Still waiting on word from the Council," Sue replied.

"Can you tell them to hurry?" Quinn asked. "I think something is really wrong with Rachel."

Sue sat down, giving Quinn her attention. "Has something else happened?"

"Rachel is seeing people that aren't there," Quinn said, sighing. "It's possible that this is something entirely different than the incidents she's been having—it's not like we haven't encountered ghosts before—but I'm worried about her. Either way, we need to figure out what's going on. Things are getting worse and I can't let anything bad happen to her; she's been through enough already and I feel like it's my fault. I got caught by the Faelan and this only happened to Rachel because she was trying to save me."

"Things like this happen," Sue stated. "It's one of the reasons Slayers work alone."

"But I screwed up because I let Rachel find out my secret," Quinn replied.

"Yes, you did," Sue agreed. "She should never have known, but there's nothing you can do about that now. And she hasn't been completely useless, which is a little surprising. With a little discipline and a lot less singing, she might make a decent Watcher." Sue stood up and walked toward Quinn. "I'll contact the Council to see if they have any new information, and I'll let them known the situation is more urgent that before. I'm not saying they will be able to find out what's happening, but they do have certain resources at their disposal that we don't. I've been looking through my books; I've only found a few mentions of the Faelan and nothing resembling the symptoms Berry has."

Quinn sighed and nodded. "I'll keep looking, too. Rachel's a lot better at it than I am, though, and if she hasn't found anything yet, I don't really know what chance I stand."

Sue suddenly turned, walking toward the cabinet. "While you're here, there is something I need you to do, unless you think the woodland creatures that live in Schuester's hair will track you down and drag you back to the music room."

It slightly amused Quinn how Sue could go from slightly caring to more like the old Sue in the blink of an eye.

"Take this ring to a Professor Haller at the university," Sue requested. "She's an expert on the occult and she might be able to tell us something about it. Don't leave it with her; bring it back to me immediately."

Quinn nodded, taking the ring from her Watcher. "I'll call you on my way back."

* * *

><p>As Quinn pulled into the driveway, she grabbed her phone, checking the time. She had been gone much longer than she had planned, but the professor was difficult to get away from. She had a lot to say about the ring and Quinn tried to diligently take notes, though she felt like she was going to fall asleep. By the time she dropped off the ring with Sue, it was dark out.<p>

When she got out of her car, she noticed Puck's truck wasn't in the driveway even though she asked him to stay with Rachel. She wondered if maybe they were off somewhere, but then she looked up to the brunette's window and saw her looking out. Sighing, Quinn went into the house and up to Rachel's bedroom to check on her. The door was open, so she walked in and found Rachel sitting on her bed, reading a book and listening to music.

"Hey," Quinn said, sitting on the edge of the bed as Rachel smiled and took out her headphones.

"How did it go?" Rachel asked. "Noah told me that Sue asked you to do something for her."

"I had to go to the university," Quinn explained. "She wanted me to take the ring there and have this professor examine it."

"What did you find out?" Rachel asked, looking very interested.

"Nothing, yet," Quinn said, shrugging. "She took pictures of the ring and had a lot of theories, but she wasn't very certain about anything. She asked me to come back on Saturday."

"Why were you gone so long if she didn't know anything?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed lightly. "She liked to talk, and like I said, she had a lot of theories, all of which she shared in great detail. At least she seemed to know what she was talking about, so maybe she will be able to tell us something about the ring."

"I don't understand what is so special about the ring," Rachel commented.

Quinn shrugged. "Me either, but I'm just doing what I'm told." Quinn looked down at her phone. "I need to make a quick call; I'll be right back."

Quinn walked out of the room and down the hall to her room. She looked over her shoulder, making sure Rachel hadn't followed her, and then shut the door behind her. As she scrolled through her contacts, she walked over and sat on the bed. When she found Puck's name, she hit the call button and listened as it rang.

"Hey," Puck finally greeted after Quinn had given up hope that he was going to answer.

"Where are you?" Quinn asked. "I told you to watch Rachel, but when I came home, you weren't here."

"Dude, she kicked me out," Puck replied.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "You're twice her size."

"I know, but she's Rachel and she can be a little scary," Puck replied.

"What happened," Quinn asked, rubbing her eyes.

"So I watched her during Glee like you asked and she seemed normal, but then I noticed her mumbling something to herself," Puck answered. "I did what you said and asked for help; I went to her house and things were fine, but then I went to get something to drink, and when I came back, she was talking to herself. Not just mumbling, but actually having a conversation with someone, but there was no one there."

Quinn groaned. "What then."

"I asked her who she was talking to and she looked really confused," Puck replied. "She kicked me out not long after that."

"How did she kick you out?" Quinn asked.

"She said she needed to do other things and that I seemed to know what I was doing," Puck said. "I tried to tell her I also needed help with something else, but she practically pushed me out of the house."

Quinn nodded, though Puck couldn't see it. "How long has she been here alone?"

"About an hour," Puck guessed.

"Thanks, Puck," Quinn said before hanging up.

Quinn threw her phone on the bed and walked out of the room, bypassing Rachel's room, and heading downstairs. She didn't bother knocking on Santana's door; Brittany's car wasn't in the driveway, so she wasn't really worried about what she might walk in on. The vampire was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, and Quinn cleared her throat to get Santana's attention.

"What?" Santana asked, still staring up.

"Have you noticed anything weird with Rachel?" Quinn asked.

"Isn't everything about her weird?" Santana counted.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Fine—weirder."

Santana shrugged. "Not really."

"You're sure?" Quinn asked.

"It's not like I watch everything she does," Santana said, looking at Quinn, and rolling her eyes. "I'm not in love with her like you."

Quinn opened her mouth to tell the vampire she was wrong, but ended up saying, "Keep an eye on her, okay?"

* * *

><p>"Everyone pick a partner and work on the review questions at the end of the chapter," the teacher said.<p>

Quinn looked at Rachel and started moving her desk toward the brunette's; Rachel gave her a smile, moving her desk as well. There was no question they would be working together and no one else even tried to pair with either of them, though Finn looked like he wanted to. He seemed like he had finally given up any hope of Rachel being interested in him, but he still looked at her like a lovesick puppy. Quinn couldn't blame him for liking Rachel; that didn't stop her from wanting to yell at him to stop looking at Rachel like that, though.

"Okay, first question—" Quinn abruptly stopped as she looked up at Rachel. "Rachel!"

"What?" the brunette asked.

"You're fading," Quinn stated.

Quinn looked around, making sure no one was looking at them, but most of the other students seemed to be concentrating on the assignment. She caught Puck's eye, though, and then she saw his brows furrow when he looked at Rachel. The other girl was starting to disappear just like she had done once before.

"Oh my," Rachel said, looking down at herself.

"We need to get you out of her before—"

Quinn trailed off when Rachel's skin suddenly started glowing. She knew people might not notice the fact that she was fading into thin air, but they would notice one of their classmates lit up. Without thinking, she grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her toward the door. Their teacher was calling after them, but Quinn ignored it and started pulling Rachel to the nearest bathroom. She wanted to get to the training room, but it was on the other side of the school and there was too great a chance that people would see them. Before she got to the bathroom, though, Rachel started struggling with her.

"We need to hide you," Quinn said, looking at Rachel, and wondering why she was fighting this.

"I can't," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I can't."

"You can't what?" Quinn asked. "Someone is going to see you."

"If I go in there, they're going to get me," Rachel replied. "I'm safe out here; they can't see me here."

Quinn frowned. "Rachel, what are you talking about?"

"The things that hide in there," Rachel said with wide eyes. "They're all over the place; they think I don't see them, but I do. They want to get under my skin. They're crawling on the walls."

Puck walked out of the classroom and stopped just behind Rachel. "Why is she out here?"

"I—"

"Don't let her take me in there!" Rachel shouted as she turned toward Puck. "It's not safe in there."

"It's not safe out here," Puck stated.

"No," Rachel said, shaking her head, and backing away from the other two.

"We need to get her home," Quinn said, grabbing hold of Rachel's hand again.

Rachel struggled against Quinn's grasp, but the blonde held on, and tried to keep Rachel from hurting either of them. She put her arms around the brunette's, trying to stop her from fighting back, but it didn't work. With her arms pinned, Rachel started kicking at her, though Quinn still didn't let go.

"Rachel, please," Quinn begged.

"No!" Rachel said, thrashing against her.

Puck ran over, grabbing Rachel's legs; she kicked at him several times, catching him in the face once, but he held on tight. "Let's go before someone sees us."

Rachel tried to scream, but Quinn clamped her hand over the other girl's mouth and then nodded at Puck. The two carried Rachel through the hall, peaking around corners to make sure they weren't about to run into anyone. Miss Pillsbury was coming down one hall, so they ducked into an empty classroom until the guidance counselor passed by.

"It's clear," Puck said, sticking his head out the door.

They walked Rachel down the long hallway; as they passed by one of the classrooms, Quinn saw Tina look toward the door. The other girl's mouth dropped and Quinn gave her a pleading look, hoping she wouldn't say anything. She had no idea how she was going to explain this to her later, but she had bigger things to worry about right now.

"What the hell is going on?" Puck finally asked as they made their way out the side door and into the parking lot.

"I don't know, but it's getting worse," Quinn replied.

"What are you going to do?" Puck asked.

"Whatever I have to," Quinn said with a sigh.

* * *

><p>As soon as Quinn and Puck brought Rachel to the house, they took her to the basement. Quinn didn't know what else to do, so she put the shackles that once chained Santana on Rachel's wrists. Rachel obviously was not herself and the blonde was afraid she was going to do something to hurt herself. It was like she wasn't hearing a word anyone was saying and she was seeing things that were not actually there. She wasn't talking to anyone this time, but she was reacting when there was nothing to react to.<p>

Santana seemed surprised by the intrusion, but also delighted that Rachel was being chained up. Quinn chose not to think about this very much and tried to focus on Rachel. No matter how much she tried talking to her girlfriend, it didn't seem to help; she seemed so lost in her own mind right now that Quinn didn't even know if Rachel could hear her.

After a while, Rachel stopped struggling so much and she eventually just sat on the bed, staring at the wall. Quinn didn't know if this was an improvement or not, but at least she wasn't going to hurt herself or someone else. Quinn needed to figure out what was going on, so she reluctantly asked Puck and Santana to look after her. She wanted to be the one to do it, but she also needed to go back to the school and talk to Sue. Her Watcher needed to know what was going on, and more importantly, she needed to contact the Council.

By the time she pulled into the parking lot, school was over, and most of the students were gone. A few cars remained and Quinn was happy to see Miss Sylvester's car was one of them; the older woman always seemed to be at the school, though. When she got out, she started running toward the school and didn't stop until she was outside the training room door even though Mr. Figgins had yelled at her that it was a hallway, not a track.

"Call the Council," Quinn demanded as she opened the door.

"Excuse me?" Sue asked, taking off her glasses.

"Rachel's—she's worse, okay?" Quinn replied. "Call them and make them tell you what the hell is going on. I know they can figure it out and they need to figure it out right now." Quinn was yelling at this point, but she didn't care. "This is their job, isn't it? Why aren't they looking into it?"

"What's happened?" Sue calmly asked.

Quinn sighed, deflating a little. "She's—I think she's completely losing her mind. We were in class and first she started disappearing and then she started glowing. When I took her into the hall, she started rambling about it not being safe and that they were going to get her. Don't ask me who 'they' are because I have no idea."

"Where is she now?" Sue asked.

"At her house," Quinn replied. "Puck and I managed to get her to my car. I chained her up; Puck and Santana are watching her right now."

Sue nodded. "At least she's safe."

Quinn shook her head and felt tears come to her eyes. "I have to figure out what's happening to her. She's the best thing that's ever happened to my life and I can't lose her."

Quinn wiped the tears from her eyes and avoided looking at her Watcher. She hated people seeing her emotional, but she felt so helpless and she couldn't really hold it in any longer. She needed answers and she needed them right now. Rachel was obviously getting worse and she didn't think that was going to change on its own.

"I'll contact the Council again, but I don't know what good it will do," Sue said. "They assure me they are looking into it, but—they have higher priorities."

Quinn looked up, glaring at Miss Sylvester. "What higher priorities?"

"Mass killings, apocalypses—there's a lot going," Sue replied.

"And they're going to have to find someone else to stop them if they don't help me," Quinn stated. "If I don't have Rachel with me, I'm done. I haven't really asked for anything from them, but I'm asking for this."

"I don't think the Council is going to be very happy with you if you threaten to quit," Sue replied.

Quinn shook her head. "I don't care."

Sue had a gleam in her eyes that Quinn had only seen a few times before. She was proud of her.

* * *

><p>Quinn finally went home when it was obvious the Watcher's Council was going to be of no use tonight. When Sue contacted them, they assured her they were looking into it, but Quinn had the feeling they weren't trying very hard. The way Sue had made it sound, the Council had many resources at their disposal, so it seemed unlikely that they knew nothing about what was going on. She didn't know what they had to gain by keeping the information to themselves, but she was really starting to not like them.<p>

She closed the front door and headed for the basement; luckily this was one of the nights Leroy stayed late at work, so he wasn't around yet to ask about Rachel. Quinn could usually use Glee as an excuse—usually by saying someone needed her help—but she really didn't like lying to the man. He had given her a place to stay and continued to let her live there, even saying that it was her home now, too.

"How is she?" Quinn asked as she descended the steps.

"Still out of her fucking mind," Santana replied. "The bitch scratched me."

"You'll get it over it," Quinn said as Santana held up her arm to show her.

Quinn walked around Santana and over to Rachel. The brunette had her arms wrapped around her knees and she was staring at the wall, her eyes unmoving. Quinn kneeled beside the bed and looked at Rachel, tucking some of the loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"Rachel," Quinn quietly said, hoping to gain the other girl's attention. "Rach, sweetie, look at me."

The brunette's eyes didn't move and Quinn sighed to herself. She wondered if Rachel could hear her or if she even knew she was there. From the look in Rachel's eyes, though, Quinn highly doubted it; she seemed to be lost in her own little world.

"Rachel, can you hear me?" Quinn asked.

"She isn't going to answer you," Santana stated.

"Where's Puck?" Quinn asked, realizing he wasn't there.

"Where else?" Santana asked, scoffing. "He went to get food."

Quinn nodded and turned back to Rachel. "Rach, I'm going to find out what's going on and I'm going to get you back. Do you hear me? I promise I'm going to figure this out."

"Face it, Q, Berry is completely nuts," Santana said.

"No, she isn't," Quinn replied.

"She's lost her fucking mind," Santana said, emphasizing each word.

"I will get her back," Quinn said rather loudly.

Santana shrugged. "And if you don't?"

"I will," Quinn stated.

"But let's say you don't," Santana said, crossing her arms. "What if your little girlfriend stays crazy for the rest of her life."

"She isn't crazy," Quinn said through gritted teeth.

"She looks pretty crazy to me," Santana replied.

"Shut up, Santana" Quinn said, standing up.

"I'm just asking what you're going to do when your girlfriend continues doing her best impression of a vegetable," Santana said, shrugging again.

"I'm going to figure this out, so shut the hell up," Quinn yelled.

"I think if you thought you could figure this out, you wouldn't be getting so worked up right now," Santana commented as she walked toward Quinn. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you? If you did, Berry wouldn't be like this right now because she wouldn't have gotten hit by that fairy shit trying to save your sorry ass."

Before Quinn even realized what she was doing, she had lunged at Santana, knocking her to the ground, and straddling her as she punched the vampire in the face. Santana was struggling against her, but considering she didn't have the ability to hurt Quinn, she couldn't do very much.

She heard something fall, followed by Puck yelling, "What are you doing?"

Puck grabbed her around the waist, pulling her off Santana; Quinn fought against him, trying to get back to the vampire, but he had a strong grip on her. She watched as Santana sat up, wiping the blood off her lip and eyebrow, and then looked up at her with a murderous look in her eyes.

"One of these days, Fabray," Santana threatened as she stood up.

As Santana stalked up the steps, Puck put Quinn's feet on the ground, letting her go. When she turned around, he was giving her a disapproving scowl.

"What?" Quinn asked, rolling her eyes.

"She wouldn't want you fighting," Puck said, motioning toward Rachel.

"Yes, well—" She was cut off by her phone buzzing and she quickly grabbed it, hoping it was Sue, who told her she would call the moment she heard anything. "Hello."

"The Watcher's Council finally contacted me with some information," Sue said, skipping the pleasantries. "The dust Rachel got hit with—the Faelan use it on people when they're threatened. It gives people the same powers as the Faelan, but because she wasn't turned into one first, her body can't handle it. It's going to make her completely lose her mind if we don't figure out a way to stop it."

"How do we stop it?" Quinn asked.

"The Council doesn't know," Sue stated. "They've never known anyone to be cured of it."

Quinn looked at Rachel. "So where do we start, then?"

* * *

><p>Quinn rubbed her eyes as she tried to stay awake; she had been up all night looking over Rachel and her eyes were starting to close of their own accord. She was looking through all the books in the basement to see if she could find anything, but she was coming up empty. Almost nothing even mentioned the Faelan, and the things that did had nothing about the dust Rachel had been hit with. With every hour that passed, Quinn felt more and more helpless. She needed to help Rachel, but she just didn't know how to.<p>

There was a light knock on the door that jolted her awake. She figured it was Puck, who had gone to get them all breakfast even though Rachel was in no condition to eat and Quinn wasn't hungry. She knew it was his way of trying to help, though, so she didn't fight him on it. He had been doing his best to look through the books as well, but he kept falling asleep, and then would take up looking sheepish.

"Hey," Brittany softly said.

Quinn looked up and the other blonde was standing on the bottom step with her duffle bag. "Hi, Brittany. What are you doing here?"

"San called me last night," Brittany replied.

"Oh," Quinn said, wondering if the other girl was here to scold her for getting in a fight with Santana.

"Yeah, she told me what was going on with Rach and asked if I knew how to help," Brittany said, walking down the last step.

"She did?" Quinn asked.

Brittany nodded. "I looked, but I couldn't find anything, so I asked my mom." Brittany pulled out a notebook from her bag and handed it to her. "There's two spells that can help; one will remove it from her body and the other will just stop it from hurting her."

"You mean she would still have the powers?" Quinn asked.

Brittany nodded again. "Yep."

"So—she could be like one of them, but still be her?" Quinn clarified.

"Yep," Brittany repeated.

"How quickly can this be done?" Quinn asked.

"I brought everything with me," Brittany said, throwing the duffle bag onto the ground. "It's a lot harder than anything I've done, but I think I can do it. If I can't, I can call mom and have her come here."

Quinn nodded. "And you know this will work?"

"It should," Brittany replied.

"Let's do it then," Quinn said.

Quinn heard a squeak near the door and looked over to see Puck opening it; he had a bag in his hands and several cups of coffee as he jogged down the stairs. He paused when he saw Brittany, but then he picked up the pace again and threw the bag onto a nearby table.

"Didn't know you were gonna be here," Puck commented. "There's an extra sandwich in there if you want it, though, but no coffee."

"Thanks," Quinn said as Puck handed her a cup. "Brittany says she can do a spell that will help Rachel."

"What are we waiting on?" Puck asked.

"There's more than one spell," Quinn replied.

"Who cares," Puck said, shrugging. "If it's going to fix her, pick one, and we can get Rachel back."

"Which spell?" Brittany asked, looking at Quinn.

Quinn sighed and looked at Rachel as she pondered the question. Rachel would be a lot safer if she had a way to defend herself, and these powers would do just that, but was that something the other girl would want? She looked at Rachel, flipping the notebook to the other page, and threw it to Brittany.

"Let's do that one," Quinn stated.

* * *

><p>Rachel's head was in Quinn's lap and the blonde was looking down at her, watching her sleep. Brittany had completed the spell, but Rachel still hadn't awoken from it. The spell took longer than Quinn thought it would and it was difficult for her to stand back and watch as Brittany did everything. Quinn hated feeling useless, but she was getting used to it after this week since it was how she had felt for much of it. They still didn't know if the spell had worked and they wouldn't until Rachel finally woke up.<p>

"You know you don't have to wait around," Quinn said to Puck.

"What am I going to do, go to school?" Puck asked.

"Just a thought," Quinn replied.

"Yeah, well, I need to make sure my fellow Jew is alright," Puck said, shifting in his chair. "And it's not like I pay attention when I'm at school anyway."

Quinn shook her head. Puck may refuse to leave, but she had talked Brittany into going to school. She didn't really want to go, but Quinn thought it would look too strange if all four of them were missing school; she figured it would be easier getting Brittany to go than Puck, which she was right about.

"If you ever want to graduate, you might want to change that," Quinn commented.

Puck shrugged. "School's overrated."

"Not if you want to—" Quinn closed her mouth and looked at Rachel, who was beginning to stir. "Rachel?" The brunette groaned and Quinn shook her gently. "Rach."

"Quinn?" Rachel groggily said as she finally opened her eyes. "What's going on?"

"I'll leave you two alone," Puck quietly said before slipping out of the room.

Quinn shook her head and leaned down, kissing Rachel. "I thought I had lost you."

"Why are you crying?" Rachel asked, wiping away Quinn's tears.

"It's been a long week," Quinn said, laughing through her tears. "How do you feel?"

"Like myself again," Rachel replied. "It was weird; it's like I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was." Rachel groaned as she tried to sit up. "Why do I feel like I've been run over by a truck?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Quinn asked.

"I remember being in class and then—nothing," Rachel replied. "What happened?"

"You started fading and then you started glowing like before," Quinn explained. "When I took you into the hall, though, you started talking about things that didn't make any sense. The stuff the Faelan threw on you in the woods was making you crazy; you were seeing things that weren't there."

"And now?" Rachel asked.

"Now you're okay," Quinn said, smiling. "You have Brittany to thank for that; she did a spell and now you're better."

"Why am I so sore, though?" Rachel asked.

"You fought us quite a bit," Quinn replied.

Rachel frowned. "Us?"

"Me and Puck," Quinn explained. "I couldn't get you to calm down, so we had to pick you up and carry you out of the school so no one would see you."

"I didn't hurt anyone, did I?" Rachel asked, looking worried.

"Nah," Quinn replied. "Puck was kicked in the face, but he was alright."

"Remind me to apologize," Rachel replied. "And also to thank him for helping."

The door slammed and someone—Quinn figured Santana by the racket—was stomping down the stairs.

"Oh my," Rachel said, her eyes widening.

"Now that she's not completely fucking nuts, can I have my damn bed back?" Santana asked.

"Did I do that?" Rachel asked, pointing at the vampire.

Quinn looked over her shoulder. "No."

"Oh, this?" Santana asked, motioning to her face. "No, your little girlfriend did this."

"Quinn!" Rachel exclaimed, frowning at her.

Quinn felt bad enough that she had attacked her friend, though part of her did feel like Santana deserved it. She hadn't meant to lash out like that, but the things the vampire had said made her snap.

"Did you apologize?" Rachel asked.

"I don't want her apology," Santana immediately said. "I would like my bed back, though, so can you move your asses."

Quinn sighed as she stood up and offered her hand to Rachel. "I should let Brittany know everything worked; she should be at lunch now."

"Lunch?" Rachel asked. "Am I missing school!?"

"Yeah, it's Friday," Quinn replied.

"Oh my god," Rachel said, rushing toward the stairs.

Quinn frowned as she watched the brunette.

"Are you coming?" Rachel yelled down to her.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready?" Rachel asked, glancing sideways at Quinn.<p>

Quinn took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes."

Rachel laughed lightly. "You look nervous."

"I am nervous," Quinn admitted, looking at Rachel.

"We don't have to go if you're having second thoughts," Rachel quietly said.

"No," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I want to go, I want to dance with you, and I want everyone to know that you're my girlfriend. I'm just—"

"Nervous," Rachel finished.

Quinn smiled. "Yeah."

"That's perfectly understandable," Rachel replied. "I'll admit, I'm a little nervous, too."

Quinn reached over, taking Rachel's hand, and lacing their fingers together. "I'm ready."

"You're sure?" Rachel asked.

"Positive," Quinn said with a smile.

Quinn led them into the gymnasium, where the Valentine dance was in full swing. Rachel had been even more horrified when she realized they still hadn't gotten their dresses for the dance and were going to miss it, so the moment school was over, she dragged them to the mall. Quinn never thought Rachel would willingly miss Glee, but the brunette said she didn't have anything prepared due to the events of the past week, so she would only be missing a few of her friends performances, and she thought they would understand.

As soon as they walked in, Quinn could feel all eyes on her and Rachel. She couldn't really blame them, though; it's not every day the former Cheerios captain walks into a dance, hand in hand with the girl she used to bully.

"Would you like to dance?" Quinn asked, turning to Rachel.

"I'd love to," Rachel said, smiling at her.

"_It was a Monday when my lover told me  
><em>_'Never pay the reaper with love only'  
><em>_What could I say to you except, 'I love you'  
><em>_And 'I'd give my life for yours'"_

Quinn didn't know the song that had begun playing, but it was slow; she led Rachel to the middle of the dance floor and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist while Rachel put her arms around the back of Quinn's neck.

"_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones, dear"_

"Everyone is staring at us," Rachel commented.

"Yeah," Quinn said, shrugging.

"_Remember the time we made love in the roses?  
><em>_And you took my picture in all sorts of poses  
><em>_How could I ever get over you, when I'd give my life for yours?"_

"It doesn't bother you?" Rachel asked.

"No," Quinn replied. "Does it bother you?"

Rachel shook her head. "I love the spotlight, remember. I'll just look at it as practice for when I'm incredibly famous and people stare at me everywhere I go."

"_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones, dear"_

Rachel put her head on Quinn's shoulder and the blonde pulled the other girl closer. She looked to her left, where she saw Artie and Tina dancing together. Quinn smiled at Tina, who locked eyes with her and smiled back; she guessed the two had made up in the last few days.

"Quinn?" Rachel quietly said.

"Yeah?" Quinn asked.

"Thank you," Rachel replied.

"For what?" Quinn asked.

"For saving me," Rachel stated.

"_My dear, it's time to say, 'Thank God for you'  
><em>_I thank God for you in each and every single way  
><em>_I know, I know, I know, I know  
><em>_It's time to let you know  
><em>_Time to let you know  
><em>_Time to let you know  
><em>_Time to sit here and say"_

"I think you have others to thank more than me," Quinn replied. "I didn't do very much."

"You do more than you think," Rachel said, pulling back to look in her eyes.

"I was so scared," Quinn admitted, reaching one hand up to put on Rachel's cheek.

Rachel leaned up and kissed her on the lips; it was very chaste, but Quinn could hear the mumbles of the people around them. As the brunette started to pull away, Quinn leaned in further, not letting Rachel get away. Between rushing to school, hurrying to get their dresses, and getting ready, Quinn hadn't gotten a proper kiss from Rachel. When she heard a catcall—one that sounded suspiciously like Puck—she finally pulled away.

"_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones  
><em>_I know we are, we are the lucky ones, dear, dear"_

"I guess there's no doubt about it now; everyone definitely knows we're dating," Rachel said, laughing lightly as she looked around.

Quinn shrugged, smiling. "Good."

"You're just happy guys will stop asking you out," Rachel said, putting her head back on Quinn's shoulder

"Maybe," Quinn replied

"_We are the lucky ones, dear, dear  
><em>_We are the lucky ones, dear, dear  
><em>_We are the lucky ones, dear  
><em>_We are the lucky ones, dear  
><em>_We are the lucky ones, dear"_

"Quinn?" Rachel quietly said again.

Quinn hummed as she pulled back to look at Rachel.

"I love you," Rachel softly said, looking into her eyes.

Quinn was taken by surprise, but a smile spread across her face. "I love you, too."

If there was any doubt about it before, there wasn't now. This week had made Quinn realize just how much she loved the other girl and she didn't know what she would do if she was suddenly no longer in her life. Quinn knew things would never be easy for them, but she wasn't going to let a little thing like being the Slayer stand in their way.

* * *

><p><strong>The song at the dance was Lucky by Bif Naked.<strong>

**What do you think…does Rachel have powers now or not? The next chapter is probably going to be a bit ridiculous (I laugh every time I see my little blurb about it in my notes) and quite possibly all from Brittany's point of view.**

**Okay so here's where we're at: currently, it looks like this story will be done in August. I've been thinking about possible sequel ideas for this, but reviews have dropped off significantly in the last few chapters, so I guess I'll see where we're at in a few chapters to make sure there's still interest. I would love to do a sequel (trilogy, actually), so hopefully people do remain interested because I'm having fun writing this.**

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	17. A Familiar Situation

**I know a lot of you have said you're interested in a sequel/trilogy, but like I said…I have to make sure people remain interested. For all I know, everyone could decide the last bit is terrible, but hopefully that doesn't happen since I would love to continue.**

** **theduchesss**: I hear you about giving their relationship a little more focus, but it's hard to do with the way I've planned this story. It's definitely something that the sequel would focus on more.**

**Devin Jaste: Actually it was performed sometime during season 4 at one of the frat parties, but I don't remember the exact episode.**

**skittles84: And that comment is why you're my best friend.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17 – A Familiar Situation<strong>

Brittany looked around the locker room; Quinn told her to meet them in the training room, but she had no idea what that meant. Her friend told her to go through the locker room and go into a door, but she didn't know which door, and there were at least four of them. She knew one went into a janitor's closet because she and Santana had snuck into it quite a few times to not get caught making out, but she didn't know which of the other three it was.

She walked to the far side of the room, checking the doorknob, but the door was locked. She knocked on it and put her ear against the metal, but there was no noise that she could hear. She tried the next door with the same results, so she walked to the next. When she tried the knob, it was locked, but when she knocked, she could hear movement inside. She knocked again and the door flew open, making her jump back.

"You're late."

"Sorry, Coach Sylvester," she said, walking into the room.

"Now that we're all here, we can get started," Sue said, giving Brittany a very pointed look.

"Why am I here?" Brittany asked.

"Because Quinn couldn't keep her mouth shut," Sue replied. "You know her secret, which means you need to be here and train like they do."

"Why isn't San here?" Brittany asked.

"She's a vampire," Sue stated. "She doesn't need to train, and I don't trust her even if the rest of you think she's not a soulless monster."

Brittany frowned. "San is good; she hasn't hurt anyone and she's not going to."

"We'll see about that," Sue replied. "Sit down."

Brittany's frown grew as she walked to the blue mat and sat down. She didn't know why her coach didn't believe that Santana was good. She knew her girlfriend didn't want to hurt anyone and even if she wanted to, she couldn't. Her spell worked perfectly and there was no way Santana could do anything bad.

"It has come to my attention that there have been reports of attacks in town over the last few months," Sue said, looking at Quinn. "The police are calling it a rabid, wild animal, but it sounds like more than that. No one has died yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. Eyewitness reports have put it at about three feet in length, and they say it resembles a large dog, but they have said it is not a dog."

"What do you think it could be?" Rachel asked.

"Well, it could be numerous things, but considering it's always around the full moon, it could be a werewolf," Sue replied. "I found reports of similar incidents for the last few months, all around the full moon, which leads me to believe that we might have a werewolf in town."

"A werewolf?" Rachel said, sounding excited. "They exist."

"You can believe that vampires exist, but you question a werewolf?" Quinn said with a laugh.

"Tomorrow is the full moon, which means it could be out there again tonight," Sue continued.

"Tonight?" Quinn asked. "I thought werewolves were only out during the full moon."

"The night before, the night of, and the night after the full moon," Sue corrected. "I want you to hunt and capture it; do not kill it. The werewolf is a person, and they may not even be aware that this is happening, so do everything you can to capture it. And whatever you do, do not get scratched or bitten by it—you don't want to turn into one of them."

"Any idea how I'm supposed to capture this thing?" Quinn asked.

"I have tranquilizer gun," Sue stated.

"Okay then," Quinn replied.

Brittany frowned; she didn't like guns—even the ones that wouldn't kill people. She guessed if it meant her friends and everyone else were safe, though, it would be okay.

"I'll start researching werewolves as soon as we get home," Rachel said, standing up. "Maybe I can find the type of places they are attracted to. It should be a fun read; I've been fascinated by them ever since I watched this old black and white movie with Daddy."

"I have a few books you can borrow," Sue said.

Rachel smiled. "Thank you."

She didn't know why Rachel was so excited about doing research. Every time she tried to help, she usually ended up falling asleep. She didn't mean to, but the books were so boring that it was hard to stay awake while reading them. It was a good thing Rachel found it so fun, though, since she had to do it a lot.

Brittany had actually been having to do a lot of reading because her mother and grandmother were training her with how to be a witch. It wasn't as boring as doing research, though, so she really didn't mind. It was actually fun reading about spells and learning how to do them. Her mother said she was a natural at it, which was probably the only time she had heard that other than when it came to her dancing. She was proud that she was so good at it, but she hated not being able to tell anyone. Her mother had made her promise, though, and she wasn't going to break that promise.

She looked up and the other three were discussing something, but she had zoned out and didn't know what they were talking about. Whatever it was, it didn't sound fun, because they were talking about Quinn killing something. It was weird to her that Quinn was so strong and could fight things; she didn't look any different than before, but she had seen the things the other girl could do. It was the same thing with Santana.

When Brittany looked up, she saw the other three looking at her. "What?"

Sue shook her head. "You two know what to do. Make sure Brittany does it, too."

With that, Sue walked out of the room and Brittany looked to her friends. "What are we doing?"

"Training," Rachel said, laughing.

"Oh," Brittany replied.

"Come on," Rachel said, smiling at her. "I'll show you around and then we can get started."

* * *

><p>"Be careful going home," Rachel instructed. "If you see anything, don't approach it; call Quinn, okay?"<p>

"I will," Brittany agreed, though she didn't know why Rachel was telling her this; she wasn't going to send a fireball at them or anything. That would kill it and she wasn't going to hurt another human being even if they were a werewolf three days a month.

She stretched before she got into her car, her muscles aching from the long night. They scoured downtown, where most of the attacks had happened, but the only thing they saw were a few people coming out of the movie theater and a stray dog. It was early in the morning by the time they did several sweeps and Quinn called it a night. Brittany was happy to finally get home; she had Cheerio practice in only a few hours and she didn't think Coach Sylvester would be very happy if she fell asleep during it. She had actually done it once before and Sue threatened to make someone else captain.

On her way home, Brittany kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't unusual for her to see something on her drive; just last week she drove past a vampire attacking a woman and she stopped to help. She didn't like violence, but if someone was being attacked, she was going to do something about it. Santana had made her promise not to do anything alone that would put her in danger, but she couldn't sit back and watch bad things happen. She felt guilty that she had lied to her girlfriend, but she would feel even guiltier if she didn't do anything.

As soon as she pulled into her driveway, she noticed the front door was open, which was weird because she was sure she remembered to close and lock it. Her mom and dad were out of town for a few days and her mom made her swear that she wouldn't forget to lock up when she left. It was possible her little sister came back early from staying at her friend's house, but she didn't think she had a key to get in.

When she walked toward the house, she realized that the door wasn't just open; it was splintered as if something broke in. The closer she got, the more she could see scratches along the pieces of wood that were strewn along the welcome mat. She opened what was left of the door and flicked on the light to find her house completely destroyed.

She walked from the foyer to the living room; stuffing from the couch was scattered throughout the room and most of the furniture in the room had deep gashes. She walked into the dining room, passing the overturned table and chairs, and went into the kitchen. The refrigerator had been opened and was now devoid of food. Several of the cabinets had also been torn into, and boxes and cans of food were lying about the room.

"Lord Tubbington?" Brittany called, accidently kicking an empty milk jug on her way to her bedroom.

She walked inside and the room was mostly untouched, except for some scratches along the doorjamb. Her cat wasn't in his usual spot atop her bed, so she got on her knees to check underneath.

"Lord Tubbington!" she called again as she stood up to check the closet.

He wasn't in her room, so she checked her parents' room and then her sister's, but the cat wasn't in either of them. She even went into the basement because sometimes she forgot to close the door, but it wasn't open, and the cat wasn't down there. She thought about checking the attic, but she didn't think he would be able to get to the string to pull the stairs down.

Lord Tubbington was still grounded for running off the previous month and she didn't think he would do it again after the talk she had with him. She wondered if maybe he ran off because he was hiding from whatever had attacked the house, so she walked toward the front door to look around the house.

She checked in the bushes and even up the tree even though she knew he didn't like to climb due to his fear of heights. When she didn't find him in the front, she went around to the backyard and checked there as well, but the yard was pretty barren and she could see quickly that he wasn't there.

There was a light on in the kitchen next door—Mrs. Johnson had her husband on a diet so he often snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night—so she headed that way. She knocked lightly, hoping not to scare Mr. Johnson too badly and after a moment, she saw him peak through the window before unlocking the door and opening it.

"What are you doing out this late, Brittany?" he asked.

"Have you seen Lord Tubbington?" Brittany asked.

"No, but I did hear some noise coming from inside earlier; I figured it was just your mother baking, though," Mr. Johnson replied. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, my cat's just run away," Brittany lied.

"I hope you find him," Mr. Johnson said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a peach cobbler calling my name."

Brittany forced a smile and then turned away. She knew no one else would be awake at this time, and she didn't want to wake anyone. A lot of the neighborhood wasn't very fond of her family because of her mother's 'baking'. It's what they called it whenever she did her spell work since it often got quite loud and people were beginning to question things.

She thought of doing a locator spell, but then she remembered the one she knew only worked on humans and it would never work on Lord Tubbington, plus her mom had locked up all of the magick books, so even if there was a spell, she wouldn't be able to find it. Since she didn't know what else to do, she went to her car with the intention of going to Rachel's house and seeing if there was anything Quinn could do.

* * *

><p>Brittany didn't know if Quinn would be awake, but she knew at least Santana would be. The vampire might be out, but she saw a light on in the basement as she pulled into the driveway, so someone must be awake and down there. When she got out of the car, she walked to the basement window and knocked on it before going to the door and waiting for someone to answer. It took a minute, but Santana pulled the door open and yanked her inside.<p>

"What are you doing out?" Santana asked.

"I need to talk to Quinn," Brittany said.

"She's asleep," Santana replied. "Feel free to go up and wake her ass, though. Wait, what'd wrong? Why do you need to talk to her?"

"Lord Tubbington is gone," Brittany said. "I went home and something attacked my house."

"What?" Santana asked. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Brittany shook her head. "I'm fine, but the house is torn up."

"Quinn, get your ass down here!" Santana bellowed up the stairs. "Did you see what did it?"

"No, it was gone by the time I got home," Brittany replied.

"What are you yelling about?" Rachel asked, appearing at the top of the steps, rubbing her eyes.

"I called for Quinn, not you," Santana said, looking at the brunette.

"No, but I'm pretty sure the whole neighborhood heard you," Rachel replied.

"Quinn!" Santana yelled again.

"Can you stop yelling?" Rachel asked. "I'll go wake her."

"Too late," Quinn said through a yawn as she walked around the corner. "What's going on?"

"When I went home, my front door was broken and something had been in my house," Brittany said, looking up at Quinn and Rachel.

Quinn sighed. "Wait here; I'll change and we can go to your house."

Brittany watched as Quinn disappeared around the corner and then she turned to Santana. "I'm worried about Lord Tubbington. He knows he not allow to just run off; I think whatever was in that house took him."

"Britt," Santana softly said.

"What?" Brittany asked.

"I know you don't want to think about it, but—maybe he didn't run off and maybe he wasn't catnapped," Santana said.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asked, hoping Santana wasn't saying what she thought she was saying.

"I'm saying that maybe whatever was in your house—was hungry," Santana replied.

Brittany shook her head, but Quinn and Rachel came down the stairs, interrupting her rebuttal. She silently turned and headed for the door, the other three following behind her. Santana got in her car and the other two followed in Quinn's car. The ride was silent as Brittany tried to think of places Lord Tubbington liked to go and the vampire stared out the window.

"Shit," Santana finally said as Brittany pulled into her driveway. "Someone really wanted into your house."

Brittany shut off the engine and got out of the car. Santana was already on her way to the house before the other car even came to a complete stop.

"Oh my," Rachel said as she exited the car.

Quinn and Rachel followed in Santana's footsteps, while Brittany hung back. She wasn't stupid; she knew how bad the house looked and she didn't need to see the other three's shocked expressions when they saw it. When she eventually walked in, though, everyone was in the living room. Rachel was using her phone to take pictures of the room and Quinn was looking at the claw marks on one of the end tables.

"And you didn't see anything when you came in?" Quinn asked, looking up when she came into the room.

Brittany shook her head. "There was nothing here; it was just like this when I came in."

Quinn sighed and grabbed the table leg. "I'll take this to Sue; maybe she can contact the Council and see if they can identify the claw markings."

"Could it what we've been looking for?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe," Quinn replied. "But there haven't been reports of it coming into people's houses. It's just attacked people on the street."

"That's true, but maybe there was no one on the street to attack, so it decided to look elsewhere," Rachel reasoned.

"What are we going to do to find Lord Tubbington?" Brittany asked, and Rachel and Quinn both looked at her in a way that told her they thought he was gone. "I know he's alive; there would be blood and stuff if he was—if it got him. There's not, though; I looked."

"She is right," Santana said, shrugging.

Quinn didn't look convinced, but she said, "We'll keep an eye out for him, okay?"

"I don't think he just ran away," Brittany stated. "I think it took him."

Rachel frowned. "What makes you think that?"

"Because he got in trouble the last time he ran off, and he knows not to do it again," Brittany replied. "He promised he wouldn't do it again and I believe him."

Brittany looked around and she could tell by their faces that they didn't believe her—not even Santana.

"Tell me you'll look for him," she pleaded.

"They will," Santana said, raising her eyebrow at Quinn.

"We'll look, Brittany," Quinn replied.

* * *

><p>Once they were done at Brittany's house, they all went back to Rachel's. Brittany couldn't stay in her house until they fixed the door, which Quinn was going to see if Puck could do, but until then, she was staying at Rachel's. She laid in Santana's bed until it was time to go to school, but she didn't sleep at all. She was too worried about her cat being out there and if she would ever see him again. She knew he would put up a fight, though, so she held out hope that he would be safely returned.<p>

"Are you okay, Brittany?" Tina asked as she stood at her locker.

"Yes, why?" Brittany lied.

"Because you're trying to open my locker," Tina replied.

"Oh," Brittany said, taking a step to the left. "Sorry."

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Tina tried again.

"My cat is missing," Brittany said.

"Oh, well I'm sure he'll come back," Tina said, giving her a sad smile. "Would you like me to help you make fliers? We can put them around town and maybe someone will know where he is and call."

Brittany didn't think it would do any good; she knew he hadn't just run away, but it couldn't hurt. "That would be good."

"Do you want to meet in the library during lunch?" Tina asked. "We can use the computers in there. I'm sure Artie will help us; he's really good with that sort of thing."

Brittany gave her a smile, grateful that she was trying to help. "Thanks."

"Did you do the homework for Algebra?" Tina asked, grabbing a book out of her locker.

Brittany sighed. "No. I was going to do it last night, but I didn't have time."

"Do you need help with it?" Tina asked.

Brittany shook her head; she was actually pretty good at math, but she didn't get the best grades because she had so much going on and usually didn't have time to do all of her homework. She tried, but she had Glee, Cheerios practice, and she trained with her mom and grandmother almost every day, leaving not a lot of time for other things. Usually when she wasn't doing those things, she was spending time with Santana.

She knew she should do her homework instead of spending time with her girlfriend, but after losing Santana, she realized how fragile things were and how short life could be. Santana was going to live forever now, but Brittany wasn't going to. She thought about it a lot even though she didn't really talk about it. She tried to stay upbeat and act like her old self, but Santana's death had changed things for her. She couldn't tell Santana, though, and Quinn had other things to worry about, so she kept it to herself.

"Hopefully Mr. Bevins forgets to take it up," Brittany said as she grabbed her notebook and dropped it into her backpack.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Tina said, laughing lightly.

Their teacher was notorious for forgetting that he had assigned homework to them; it was one of the reasons Brittany was still passing the class. She wasn't quite as lucky with her other classes, though, and she was going to need to try a little harder if she wanted to bring up her grades.

Brittany and Tina walked down the hall to their classroom; Tina took her seat near the front and Brittany walked toward the back. She yawned as she sat down and rubbed at her eyes. She knew this was going to be a very long day; it was only first period and she was already having difficulty staying awake. She was just lucky she made it through practice this morning, though she was a little sloppier than usual, which didn't go unnoticed by Coach Sylvester. Brittany assumed Quinn or Rachel had already filled her in about everything because the woman didn't actually yell at her like she was expecting.

As the final bell rang, Mr. Bevins began class. Brittany was finding it difficult to concentrate, though, and was doing everything she could not to fall asleep in the middle of class. She was about to nod off when the person behind her poked her shoulder and she jerked awake.

"Miss Pierce."

"What?" Brittany asked, looking up.

"I asked you what the answer to number fifteen is," Mr. Bevins stated.

Brittany had no idea what problem he was talking about or even what chapter they were on, but she answered, "Three."

Everyone is the class started laughing and Brittany felt herself blushing out of embarrassment. She heard one of the jocks a few rows over whisper to his friend that she was stupid, and it made her feel even worse.

"Well, Miss Pierce, if you had bothered to check the back of the book, you would see that the answer is not three," Mr. Bevins said.

She looked away, not listening to whatever else he had to say to her or the remarks from the other students.

* * *

><p>Brittany felt like a zombie by the time she walked into the choir room that afternoon. She had gotten a little sleep during lunch because Tina and Artie had taken pity on her and told her to rest while they made fliers. Forty-five minutes of sleep wasn't enough, though, and if anything, it seemed to make her even more tired.<p>

She was earlier than usual and no one else was in the room when she went in, so she walked to the back of the room, pulled three chairs together, and laid across them. She was almost asleep when she heard Puck's voice and her eyes flew open. It wasn't long before she heard more and more people walk in, and she sat up, putting the chairs back where they were. Rachel and Quinn were the last two in the room, which was unusual, but Brittany thought maybe they had been talking to Coach Sylvester; she wanted to ask them about it, but Mr. Schue came into the room.

"Okay, guys, I know you all know, but Regionals are now only one month away," Mr. Schue addressed them. "Brittany, Mike, and I have been working on an awesome routine for you guys, and Wednesday we will be giving you a preview of it, so be sure to be here for that."

Brittany leaned back, listening to their teacher go on about how they were going to win Regionals; it was the same speech he had given numerous times. She tried to stifle a yawn as she sunk down in her seat. When their teacher asked if anyone had anything they would like to sing, Rachel's hand flew up. She didn't know how the little brunette did it, but even with everything going on and how much she helped Quinn, she was still always prepared to sing. She was happy to see that Rachel hadn't changed and it actually made Brittany smile.

As Glee went on, Brittany finally woke up a little, and by the time it was over, she was dancing along with everyone else. If there was one thing that could always take her mind off the bad in the world, it was music and dancing; she could get lost in it, even if it was only for a few moments.

Everyone started filing out of the room the moment they were dismissed and Brittany quickly walked over to Quinn and Rachel. She looked around to make sure no one was listening to them and then asked, "Have you found out anything?"

"I brought the table leg to Miss Sylvester this morning, but she said they wouldn't know anything for a while," Quinn said, leading them over to the side of the room. "She thought the markings looked far too small to be a werewolf, though, so she doesn't think that's what went into your house."

Brittany frowned. "What else could it be?"

"We don't know," Quinn replied. "It could be anything, and it's going to take a while to figure it out."

Brittany's face dropped. "But we have to save Lord Tubbington."

"I'm sorry, Brittany," Rachel said, pulling her into a hug.

Brittany sniffled and hugged her back, glad she was friends with the other girl now. She always liked Rachel, but Quinn and Santana were always so mean to her, so she never really talked to her. Rachel was nice, though, and she was even gladder that Quinn had her in her life. Brittany could always see how sad Quinn was, but she was finally happy and she knew it was all because of Rachel.

"Listen, we're going to go see Miss Sylvester right now, so we'll let you know the moment she figures anything out, okay?" Rachel said, pulling away.

"Okay," Brittany said, nodding.

Rachel gave her one last hug and then she and Quinn headed for the door. Brittany watched as Quinn whispered something to the brunette and then glanced back at her.

"Do you want to help put these fliers up?" Tina asked, approaching her.

Brittany wanted to go home and sleep, but her desire to find her cat won out. "Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Tina asked. "Because Artie and I can do it if you would rather sleep. I know how tired you've been today."

"I'll help first," Brittany replied.

"Okay," Tina said, smiling at her. "It will make it faster since I don't have a car. Artie already took a stack and is getting his mom to take him into to town to pass them out."

"What's he passing out?" Mike asked, apparently overhearing their conversation.

"These fliers," Tina said, holding one up. "Brittany's cat ran away."

Brittany opened her mouth to say he was actually taken, but quickly closed it. If she said he was taken, she would have to explain about her house, and they would have way too many questions that she wasn't allowed to answer.

"Do you need me to help?" Mike asked, hiking his backpack up on his shoulder.

"Would you?" Tina asked.

"Sure," Mike replied. "Two cars are better than one, right? We can go to opposite ends of town and get these out quicker."

"You go to the western side of town and we'll go to the other," Tina said, handing him half of the stack. "Put them on poles and try to go into businesses and ask if they'll let you hang it up. Maybe even hand them out and ask people to keep an eye out."

Mike nodded. "Don't worry, Brittany, we'll find your cat."

Brittany smiled at him, hoping he was right.

* * *

><p>After spending a few hours handing out and putting up fliers, Brittany drove to Rachel's house. Leroy let her in and she went to the basement, where she fell onto Santana's bed, and was asleep within minutes. Santana didn't even say anything when she walked into the room; instead, she wrapped her arms around Brittany, kissed her cheek, and let her sleep.<p>

By the time Brittany finally woke, it was dark out. She rubbed her eyes, looking at the clock, and saw that it was nearly one in the morning. She still felt exhausted, but not quite as bad as she had been. Santana was no longer in bed and Brittany looked around, but the vampire wasn't even in the room and there was no note saying where she might be. Brittany figured she was out with Quinn and Rachel, though.

Brittany crawled out of bed and sat there for a moment, letting the grogginess wear off. Her stomach rumbled and she realized she hadn't eaten all day; she had skipped breakfast so she wouldn't be late for practice and then spent lunch in the library. Standing up, she decided to see what the Berrys had in the kitchen, so she headed up the stairs. The kitchen was dark, but she didn't want to turn on the light and wake Mr. Berry. She knew her way around the house quite well, and walked to the refrigerator, successfully avoiding bumping into anything.

She found a Lunchables in the fridge that she had left in there a few weeks ago and grabbed a bottle of water. As she walked into the basement, she heard the front door close, followed by footsteps. The door to the basement opened after a few moments and Quinn and Rachel came down the stairs.

"You're awake," Rachel said as soon as she saw her sitting on the bed.

"I just woke up," Brittany replied. "What are you doing back so early?"

"Batteries went out," Quinn said, heading for the drawer were they kept such things.

"Is Santana with you?" Brittany asked.

"No," Rachel replied. "She was still here when we left, so I don't know where she is."

Brittany frowned, wondering where she was. "Have you found anything about Lord Tubbington?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, but we'll keep looking."

"We need to do research," Brittany stated. "We need to find out what was in my house."

"Brittany, I know you think your cat was taken, but he probably just ran off," Quinn said. "Your door was open for who knows how long before you came home."

"I told you that he wouldn't just run off," Brittany said.

"He's a cat," Quinn replied.

"He's not just a cat," Brittany said in exasperation.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Lord Tubbington is my familiar," Brittany stated. "He's been with my family for a very long time."

"How long is a very long time?" Rachel asked.

"My great-great-great-great grandmother first had him," Brittany answered.

"Brittany, that's hundreds of years," Rachel replied.

"I know, which is why my mom is going to be really mad if I let anything happen to him," Brittany said. "When I said he wouldn't just run off, I meant it. He's still a cat and sometimes does things like that, but I made him promise last time that he would let me know if he was going anywhere."

"He can talk?" Quinn asked, furrowing her brows.

"Of course not," Brittany replied. "He's a cat."

Rachel laughed shaking her head. "How did he promise you?"

"He can understand people and we can sort of understand his meows," Brittany explained.

"Do you think something could possibly be going after familiars?" Rachel asked, looking at Quinn.

The blonde shrugged. "Anything is possible."

"We should definitely let Miss Sylvester know about this in the morning," Rachel said. "It could help us figure out what broke into your house and maybe help us find Lord Tubbington." She looked at Brittany. "Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?"

"You're not supposed to know," Brittany admitted. "People outside the family aren't supposed to know about him."

"Is anything going to happen since you told us?" Rachel asked.

"My mom will ground me if she finds out," Brittany replied.

Rachel laughed. "Well, let's not let her know, then."

"We should go," Quinn said, looking at the clock on the wall. "You should get some more sleep, Brittany."

Brittany nodded. "Be careful."

Rachel smiled at her and then followed Quinn up the stairs. Brittany sighed and looked down at her Lunchables, peeling off the plastic. She really hoped Santana came back soon; she didn't know if she would be able to sleep if she was wondering where the vampire was.

* * *

><p>She stayed up a while, waiting on Santana to come home, but she eventually fell back asleep. When she woke up in the morning, though, Santana was in bed with her.<p>

"Hi," Brittany said, turning around to look at her girlfriend. "Where were you last night?"

"Looking for the cat," Santana said, brushing some hair out of Brittany's eyes.

"Did you find anything?" Brittany asked, yawning.

"No," Santana replied. "I did kick another vampire's ass, though, which was fun. People should really learn not to start shit with me."

"I hope he's okay," Brittany said, turning to lie on her back. "I know he's not like a normal cat, but he can still be hurt. He's probably really scared right now, too."

"We'll find him," Santana stated.

"Hopefully Quinn will look for him now," Brittany said.

"I'll make her look for him," Santana replied.

"You can't really make her do anything," Brittany said, smiling slightly.

"Watch me," Santana replied. "I may not be able to follow through on any of my threats, but I still have my ways."

Brittany shook her head. "I told her about Lord Tubbington."

Santana's eyebrows rose. "Your mom is going to ground you."

"I had to do it," Brittany replied. "Quinn kept saying he just ran away and I know he wouldn't. I needed her to believe me."

"She should have believed you anyway," Santana stated.

Brittany shrugged. "I know how stupid it sounded. I know what people think of me when I talk about him."

"B—"

"It's okay," Brittany interrupted.

"It's not," Santana argued. "You know if I could, I would kick everyone's ass."

"I know you would," Brittany replied.

She hadn't told Santana about what it was like at school since she died. Without her girlfriend around, people would make comments about her in class or as she walked by. They usually wouldn't do it if Quinn was around, but if she was by herself, people would say things. People thought she was stupid, and she knew they always did, but they were too afraid of Santana to say anything. Without her there, though, people were no longer afraid to make comments.

"Oh no," Brittany said, closing her eyes. "I still didn't do my homework."

"Your Algebra homework?" Santana asked.

Brittany nodded. "I was going to do it, but I slept too long."

"It's done," Santana stated.

"What?" Brittany asked.

"I saw your Post-it note on your book," Santana replied.

"You did my homework?" Brittany said.

"Yesterday evening while you were sleeping." Santana shrugged. "I didn't want to turn on the TV and wake you up, so I didn't have anything better to do."

Brittany leaned over, bringing their lips together. Everyone thought of Santana as such a bitch, but she knew how sweet the other girl could be. Even as a vampire, she still did things like this. Brittany had no idea why Santana wasn't like the other vampires; she knew from the books she had read—and from her own experience fighting them—that Santana shouldn't be like this, but she was. She wasn't much different than the Santana she had always known, except her diet had changed and she was colder—physically speaking.

When Santana's hands slipped under her shirt, she moaned in response. Her hands started traveling up toward her bra, but Brittany stilled them, stopping her ascent.

"I need to take a shower and get ready for school," Brittany said, breaking the kiss.

Santana groaned. "Are you sure?"

Brittany laughed and pecked Santana on the lips. "Coach will be mad at me if I miss practice. You know that."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Tell her you had to have sex with your sexy, vampire girlfriend."

"I think she would still be mad at me," Brittany said, laughing again.

"Fine," Santana said, rolling onto her back.

"I promise I will make it up to you once we find Lord Tubbington," Brittany said, kissing Santana again.

"We better find that damn cat tonight," Santana replied as Brittany gathered some clean clothes from her duffle bag.

Brittany shook her head; Santana had never been particularly fond of Lord Tubbington and he felt the same way about her. They both seemed to be jealous of each other in a weird way and often fought for her attention when they were in the same room. Santana would usually threaten the cat, and he would threaten her back, but only Brittany knew what he was saying.

It was still incredibly early, so Brittany crept up the stairs as quietly as she could, trying not to wake anyone else in the house. She walked to the second floor to use the bathroom Quinn usually used since she knew Leroy would be up soon and she didn't want to make him late for work. Quinn, however, had probably only been in bed for a few hours and would be waking up as late as possible. Brittany didn't know how Quinn did it, but she figured maybe Slayers needed less sleep than everyone else.

When she closed the bathroom door behind her, she flicked on the lights, and tossed her clothes on the small table in the corner. She needed to shower quickly, so she could run home before having to be at practice. She didn't want her coach yelling at her for being late, but she needed to see if Lord Tubbington had made it home yet.

* * *

><p>"How are you doing today?" Rachel asked, coming up to Brittany.<p>

The blonde shrugged. "Same, I guess."

"How early did you leave this morning?" Rachel asked. "Your car was already gone when I woke up."

"I went to my house this morning," Brittany replied. "I wanted to make sure Lord Tubbington didn't manage to get free and go home, but it was empty."

"I'm sorry, Brittany" Rachel said, frowning. "I know how much he means to you. Quinn is looking into it, though. She was out until sunrise and yesterday she asked Miss Sylvester to tell the Council to hurry analyzing the scratches on the table let. We have one more night to find this potential werewolf, and we have a plan for tonight. Hopefully that will lead us to Lord Tubbington, but if not, if it's something else, we'll still keep looking.

Brittany smiled sadly. "Thanks."

"If he's still alive, which makes sense because there were no signs of blood or hair, indicating a fight, we will find him and get him hack," Rachel promised before furrowing her brows. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but couldn't you find a spell to track him?"

Brittany shook her head. "I only know the spell to track people, and I think my mom once said that spells don't work on familiars."

"Too bad," Rachel said, looking disappointed.

"I'm sorry," Brittany apologized, feeling like she was letting her friend down.

"It's not your fault," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I'm sure if the spell existed, you would be able to cast it. You're really good at it—even as good as you are at dancing." Rachel smiled. "You saved my life, after all."

"That spell wasn't all that hard, really," Brittany said, shrugging. "The other one would have been a lot harder."

"Other one?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, instead of removing it completely, I would've had to try to get rid of the bad while keeping the rest, which was a lot harder," Brittany replied.

"Are you saying I could have kept the powers, but the spell would have stopped me from losing my mind?" Rachel asked.

Brittany frowned. "Quinn didn't tell you?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes, spun on her heel, and marched down the hall. Brittany stood there for a moment, watching Rachel storm down the hall, before she started running after the brunette.

"Rach!" Brittany yelled, squeezing between two students. "Don't be mad at Quinn."

That got Quinn's—who had been just down the hall at her locker—attention and she looked toward them. She locked eyes with Brittany for a second and then looked at Rachel. The moment the brunette got to her, she grabbed Quinn's arm and pulled her toward the choir room. Brittany followed, hoping she could help since this was all her fault and she didn't want them fighting because of her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rachel asked, releasing Quinn front her grasp, and putting her hands on her hips.

"I didn't know you didn't tell her about the other spell," Brittany said when Quinn looked confused.

Quinn sighed, realization dawning on her face. "I didn't tell you because it didn't really matter. You were in trouble and I had to make a decision. You know the option wasn't going to be able to change anything."

Rachel shook her head. "Why didn't you choose the other spell? Maybe I could have—"

"Could have what?" Quinn asked when Rachel paused.

"I could have been more helpful to you and not feel like I'm in the way, but you're too nice to say anything," Rachel said, her voice rising.

Quinn approached Rachel and softly said, "I didn't choose the other spell because you deserve to be normal. I've already screwed up your life enough and I wasn't going to do that again. Rachel, you deserve to live your dreams—to go to New York City and be on Broadway. I don't want you to be stuck here. I want you to be able to live a normal life—you deserve a normal life."

Rachel looked like she wanted to argue, but she looked away. Quinn locked eyes with Brittany again, who mouthed that she was sorry, but Quinn shook her head slightly and gave her a faint smile, letting her know it was okay.

Now that she knew Quinn wasn't mad at her and Rachel seemed to be calming down as well, Brittany turned to leave the room. She knew they were going to have to talk more because that's what Rachel always did, so she was going to give them some time alone.

"Hey, Brittany," Puck called out, jogging up to her. "Quinn told me yesterday that you need your door fixed."

"Yeah, it's sort of broken into a lot of pieces," Brittany replied.

Puck frowned. "What happened?"

Brittany shrugged. "Something broke in."

"A burglar?" Puck asked.

"Something else," Brittany replied.

"Oh," Puck said, nodding. "How bout I come by after school and I'll see if I can fix it."

"I think we're going to need a new door," Brittany stated.

"Well, give me the money and I'll go to the store and buy one," Puck said. "I should be able to install it by tonight."

"I'll meet you at your truck after school," Brittany said.

"Just make sure Santana knows I'm not doing this to get in your pants," Puck mumbled, making Brittany laugh.

* * *

><p>"Here, kitty kitty," Santana said through gritted teeth.<p>

"He isn't going to come if you sound like you want to hurt him," Brittany said, frowning.

Actually, she didn't think he was going to come at all, but she wasn't going to tell Santana that. She knew her girlfriend was just trying to make her feel like she was doing something to find Lord Tubbington, instead of sitting around and waiting for Quinn to figure it out.

After school, she had gone with Puck to look at the door, but the moment he saw it, he said there was no way he could fix it, so they went to the nearest Lowe's. Brittany paid for the door with a credit card her parents left in case of emergency, since she figured this constituted an emergency. Once they got to the door to her house, she left to let Puck work. When she got to Rachel's house, she and Quinn were back, and they had some information. The Council had contacted Coach Sylvester and told her the claw markings on the end table leg had not been from a werewolf, but they didn't know what they actually were from.

Rachel seemed to think this was good news because it meant Lord Tubbington might not have been eaten and it probably had more to do with him being a familiar. So, Rachel did what she always did and started researching possible culprits until the sun set and she and Quinn had to go in search of the werewolf for one last night.

"Shit!" Santana said as she stumbled over a rock.

Brittany giggled and called, "Lord Tubbington!"

She really didn't think there was any chance of finding him out here, but she wanted to make Santana happy, so she was at least going to give it a shot. Instead of going into town like Quinn and Rachel had been, they decided to go through the neighborhoods on the outskirts of town. If he had run off—which she highly doubted—that's probably where he would be.

An older woman looked up at them when Brittany called out. Santana frowned in her direction, but Brittany grabbed the vampires arm and pulled her toward the woman.

"Have you seen my cat?" Brittany asked, holding out one of the fliers Tina had made.

The woman took it and shook her head after a moment, handing it back. "Sorry, dear."

"Thanks," Brittany said, pulling Santana along as she walked away.

Tina had made more fliers at lunch today; she, Mike, and Artie were going to hand them out in town again. Brittany was touched that the three were trying to help. She had been friends with Mike for a while since he was on the football team, but she had really only known Artie and Tina since joining Glee. Tina was nice—one of the nicer people in the club—and Brittany really liked her. She didn't know Artie very well, though, and had a feeling he was only helping because of Tina. Still, though, they were helping, which was more than a lot of people were doing even though the whole club knew Lord Tubbington was missing.

"Lord Tubbington!" Brittany called again.

"I'm going to kill this damn cat when we find him," Santana stated.

"It's not his fault," Brittany defended.

"Still," Santana grumbled.

"You're awfully grumpy today," Brittany noted.

"I'm hungry," Santana replied.

"Why didn't you eat before we left?" Brittany asked, frowning.

"I wasn't hungry then," Santana replied.

"We've only been out here for ten minutes," Brittany said.

It was barely even dark out; the sun was down, allowing Santana to be out, but they had just started. She had no idea why Santana hadn't eaten before they left, but there was nothing they could do about it except go home. When Santana got hungry, she got grumpy, and it was hard for her to be around people.

"Okay, let's go to my house," Brittany said, sighing. "There should still be some blood in the basement."

Luckily, they were fairly close to Brittany's house. It was only a few blocks over, so they could be there in only a few minutes. They had stocked the mini fridge full of blood for the rare occasions Brittany's family was gone and the vampire could come over. Brittany still hadn't told her family about Santana, though she didn't know why she was keeping it a secret. Her family knew about what kind of town Lima was. Still, though, it was difficult to explain how Santana was a good vampire, and Brittany didn't want her family to worry about her.

"Are you sure it's still there?" Santana asked.

"You've only drunk a few packs," Brittany replied.

"No, from the other day," Santana clarified.

"Oh, yeah," Brittany answered. "I checked the basement for Lord Tubbington and it was completely okay down there."

Santana nodded. "Let's go, then."

* * *

><p>As they walked toward her house, Brittany could see that Puck was still working on the door, but it looked like he was almost done. He looked over as they approached and grinned, motioning toward the door.<p>

"Out of my way," Santana said, pushing past him.

"What's her problem?" Puck asked.

"She's hungry," Brittany replied.

Puck put his hand on his neck for a second before dropping it and looking sheepish. "I just gotta put this last screw in and it's done."

"Thanks, Puck," Brittany said, smiling at him.

"No problem," Puck replied. "I heard what you did for my favorite Jew, so consider this a thanks. Oh, your cat's back."

"What?" Brittany asked, wondering if she'd heard him correctly.

"He's inside," Puck said, motioning with the screwdriver. "He came back like an hour ago."

"You're sure it's him?" Brittany asked.

Puck shrugged. "Looked like him."

Brittany hurried past Puck and walked through the living room and dining room, and into the kitchen. She knew he would be in there; other than her room, it was his favorite place in the house, and since he had been gone so long, he was probably hungry. Sure enough, he was sitting on the kitchen counter when she walked in.

"There you are," Brittany said, walking over to him. "Where have you been? You promised you would never run away again."

"Who are you talking to?" Santana asked, walking into the kitchen with a pack of blood. "Where the hell did he come from."

"Puck said he showed up an hour ago," Brittany said.

She reached out to pick of the cat, but he hissed and let out a low growl. She frowned and tried again, but he stuck his paw out and tried to scratch at her; she moved her hand away just in time and took a step back.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking at him in concern. "It's just me."

The cat hissed again before jumping off the counter; Santana grabbed Brittany's arm, pulling her back and away from Lord Tubbington.

"That cat's lost its damn mind," Santana said as he let out another low growl.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Brittany said, feeling a little panicked.

Outside, she could hear Puck talking to someone; when she looked toward the living room, Quinn and Rachel were walking toward her. She had no idea what they were doing there, but Quinn had the tranquilizer gun with her and Rachel looked a little worried.

"What are you bitches doing here?" Santana asked.

"We found a trail of blood and it led us to this street," Quinn replied.

Brittany frowned. "What?"

"It started at the edge of town," Rachel added. "We followed the drips of blood and they ended a few houses over, where we found an animal carcass. It was a cat and we were afraid it was Lord Tubbington, so we came to see if you could tell us."

Brittany shook her head. "It's not him."

"How do you know?" Quinn asked.

"Because her cat is right there and has lost his damn mind," Santana said, pointing toward the kitchen floor.

Everyone looked at the cat, who let out a feral hiss and fell to the floor. He grew quiet, shacking for a moment before letting out a loud grown. Brittany watched on in horror as her cat's bones began to shift and grow. It was growing to the size of a large dog, its hair becoming thick, and its eyes turning yellow.

"I think we found the werewolf," Quinn said, stepping forward with the tranquilizer gun.

"More like werecat," Santana replied

"Is there such thing?" Rachel asked.

"Apparently," Quinn said.

"What's going on?" Puck asked, coming into the room.

"Lord Tubbington is—"

Rachel was cut off when Quinn fired the gun, but Lord Tubbington lunged toward Puck just as the gun fired. The dart hit the floor, missing the cat. Puck yelped when the cat barreled into him, knocking him into the wall. The cat then went after Santana, but she jumped over the island and ducked, while the cat leapt onto the counter.

"This thing is jammed," Quinn said, trying to put another dart into the gun.

"I have an idea," Santana yelled.

The vampire scrambled up from the floor, grabbed the nearest object, and hurled it at the cat. It bounced off the werecat's head, and the monster half hissed, half roared at her. Santana took off running through the dining room and Lord Tubbington followed. Brittany ran after them and Quinn wasn't far behind her. She sprinted through the dining room, into the living room, and toward the foyer. Santana rounded the corner and Lord Tubbington skidded on the hardwood floor, crashing into the wall for a moment, before continuing its pursuit.

Brittany stopped in the foyer, realizing what Santana was going to do. She watched as the vampire threw open the door to the basement and disappeared downstairs. Lord Tubbington followed and she could hear a few crashing sounds, a growl, Santana cursing in Spanish, and then footsteps coming back up. Santana shut the door quickly and put her back to it, holding it in place.

"Hurry up with that damn thing," Santana demanded.

"Got it," Quinn finally said.

"One—two—three," Santana counted before throwing the door open.

Lord Tubbington jumped and Quinn hit him midair. He took off for Santana again, but his movements became more and more sluggish until he came to a complete stop and collapsed on the floor.

"He'll be okay, won't he?" Brittany asked.

Quinn nodded. "He'll just be out for a while."

"Do you have any ice?" Puck asked, rubbing his head as he and Rachel walked toward them.

"I'll check the freezer," Rachel said, turning around, and going back toward the kitchen.

"What the hell just happened?" Puck asked, looking at the monstrous cat.

"It seems as if the werewolf we've been looking for is actually Brittany's cat," Quinn replied.

"I guess something broke out, not in," Santana said, looking at Brittany. "What the hell are we going to do with him? He's not going to stay asleep all night."

"There's a cage in the basement," Brittany replied, causing Quinn and Puck to give her varying looks of confusion. "We trapped an imp in it once."

"Well that explains it," Puck sarcastically said, walking toward Lord Tubbington.

"Be careful with him," Brittany said.

Puck grunted as he picked it up. "A little help here."

Santana rolled her eyes, but walked over and grabbed the cat's hindquarters. They headed down the stairs as Rachel walked into the room; she set the icepack on the counter and walked over to Brittany."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Brittany nodded and smiled. "At least he's home."

* * *

><p>"I heard you found your cat," Tina yelled to Brittany, making a beeline for her the moment she came into the auditorium.<p>

"He came home last night," Brittany said, giving her a smile. "Thanks for all the help."

"No need to thank me," Tina said, shaking her head. "I'm just glad you found him. Do you have any idea where he was?"

"Oh—around," Brittany replied.

She had no idea where the cat had been, but there hadn't been reports of any more attacks, except for a few missing or dead pets. Brittany was going to have to lock up Lord Tubbington around the full moon every month, but otherwise, things would be fairly normal. She also still had no idea how he ever became like that, but she figured it had to have happened the last time he ran off.

"Are you ready?" Mike asked, coming up to her.

"Yeah," Brittany said, smiling.

She and Mike had met early that morning, putting the finishing touches on the group routine for Regionals. It wasn't perfect, but it was probably as good as it was going to get. They knew some of the members of New Directions were a little less gifted than others at dancing, so they tried to keep it simple enough for everyone to learn.

"We'll give everyone else five minutes and then we're getting started," Mr. Schue said as he walked across the stage.

Mike smiled at her before walking toward Crystal and Mercedes, and Brittany headed to the other side of the stage to join Rachel and Quinn.

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said as she sat down.

"Hi, guys," Brittany replied.

"How was Lord Tubbington this morning?" Rachel asked.

"Sore," Brittany replied. "He's okay, though."

"That's good," Rachel said, smiling. "I'll be right back."

Brittany watched as the brunette stood up and went over to Mr. Schue, probably asking about their set list once again. She had been talking about it for several weeks now, wanting it to be perfect. Brittany couldn't blame her—she wanted to win too, though maybe not quite as much as Rachel—but Mr. Schue didn't seem quite as enthused.

"When do your parents come home?" Quinn asked.

"This evening," Brittany replied.

"Do you need any help cleaning?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Brittany immediately replied. "It's still a mess and I don't think they're going to be very happy about it."

Quinn laughed lightly. "Rachel and I can come over after school; Sue is giving us the night off since we've done nothing but patrol for the last four nights."

"I'm really sorry I told Rach about the other spell," Brittany said, still feeling guilty about letting it slip.

Quinn shook her head. "You didn't know. I should have told her myself, but I was afraid she wouldn't be happy about it."

"So, she wished I'd done the other one?" Brittany asked.

"I don't know," Quinn said, watching Rachel. "I know I made the right decision, though. I want to protect Rachel, but not like that. She deserves to have a normal life, and that's not going to happen if she stays in Lima for the rest of her life. I know she wants to be on Broadway—it's all she's ever wanted and I'm not going to take that away from her. I love her too much and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she gets her dream."

"But what's that mean for you?" Brittany asked. "Don't you want to be with her?"

Quinn smiled sadly. "More than anything. I have to be here, though—she doesn't."

Brittany could see how sad Quinn was and she wanted to cheer up her friend, but she didn't know how. She wished she could fix the situation, but that was going to be for Quinn and Rachel to do.

"You still have two years," Brittany finally said.

"I know," Quinn said. "I'm going to make sure they're the best two years of our lives."

"Quinn," Rachel called, motioning for her to come over.

"Seriously, don't worry about the other day," Quinn said as she stood up.

Brittany nodded. "I'm glad you two found each other."

"Me too," Quinn said, giving a genuine smile.

The auditorium door opened and Puck jogged down the aisle.

"Dude, what happened to your hair?" Finn asked his friend.

Puck frowned. "I had a knot from hitting my head and she made me get it checked out. The doctor noticed some stupid freckle and they made me shave off the mohawk to see it better."

"Oh no, are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"It was nothing," Puck replied. "They maimed me for nothing."

"Now that we're all here, we can get started" Mr. Schue said, interrupting the discussion.

Brittany smiled as she stood up. Her favorite part about being in Glee was teaching people to dance, and after the week she'd had, she couldn't wait to get started.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so a lot of you said you wanted her to have powers and that was the original plan, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't think Quinn would make such a huge decision like that for her. Plus, I think this story will be more interesting if someone stays normal. <strong>**The next chapters will definitely focus on Quinn and Rachel more, especially the next chapter. **

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	18. Locked In

**SigBerry: Yes, thank you; I have two people editing this thing, but there always seem to still be mistakes lol.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18 – Locked In<strong>

Quinn yawned as she walked through the cemetery; the sun would be up soon, and it had been a very long night. They'd fought a half a dozen vampires tonight and a weird demon with a third eye in the middle of its head. She didn't know what was going on, but things were out in full force tonight. It wasn't the first night, either. For the past week they had been working overtime; at first she thought it was a fluke, but now she was starting to think it was something more.

"It's been an hour since we found anything," Rachel noted.

"Yeah," Quinn replied.

"Maybe they all went home for the night," Rachel said. "Maybe we should go home, too."

Quinn smiled. "You just want to sleep, don't you?"

"Yes," Rachel said.

"I don't blame you," Quinn replied. "And yes, we can go home."

"Behind you!" Rachel suddenly yelled, pointing over the blonde's shoulder.

Quinn turned around just in time to get punched in the face. "Ouch."

Quinn threw a punch of her own, connecting with the vampires jaw; she then grabbed him by the arm and flipped him onto his back. He was on his feet within seconds and threw another punch at Quinn, but she dodged it, and kneed him in the stomach. The vampire doubled over and Quinn drove the stake into his back.

She looked over her shoulder to make sure Rachel was alright; the brunette was fighting a vampire by herself and was holding her own. Several weeks ago, Sue hired a martial arts trainer that came to the gym several times a week. It was more for Puck and Rachel than anyone else, but Brittany and Quinn also participated. Quinn's fighting had definitely improved, but that was nothing compared to Rachel. She was still only human, but she had definitely taken to it; Quinn didn't know if it was because all of her dance training, but she was a natural at it, and it made Quinn a little less worried.

There were three vampires left; two in front of Quinn and the one Rachel was fighting. Quinn watched the two closely as they started walking in opposite directions, getting on either side of her. Instead of waiting for them to attack, Quinn lunged at the blonde one, knocking the vampire to the ground. Quinn punched the vampire in the face, but then got rolled onto her back, the vampire straddling her. As the vampire lowered himself to bite her, Quinn put the stake between them, and the vampire ran directly into it, exploding into dust all over her.

Quinn looked to her left just as Rachel dusted her vampire. She then flipped onto her feet and locked eyes with the remaining vampire. She expected it to come after her, but instead the vampire turned and started running in the opposite direction. Quinn frowned, wondering what just happened, and then ran after the vampire. She could hear Rachel following her, but she kept her eyes on the vampire. It rounded a crypt and when Quinn ran around it, she stopped, looking around for the creature.

"Where did it go?" Rachel asked, trying to catch her breath.

"I don't know," Quinn said, walking around slowly, trying not to be taken by surprise.

Quinn walked around the crypt, looking from left to right. The cemetery was pretty open, so there wasn't really any place for the vampire to hide, yet she couldn't see it anywhere. She turned around, looking at the large mausoleum, and wondered if that's where the vampire had gone. She checked the door, which had multiple locks on it, but the door opened with ease.

"Be careful," Rachel whispered.

"Stay behind me," Quinn instructed even though she knew there was no real need.

A cold piece of metal came into contact with Quinn's hand and she looked down, realizing Rachel was handing her a flashlight. She gave her a smile, grateful that Rachel had the light, and flicked it on to illuminate the pitch-black room. There was only one small window high up on the wall, so the most of the light was from the device in Quinn's hand.

Quinn continued to slowly walk around, prepared for the vampire to jump out at her at any time. There weren't many places to hide there, either, except for behind two concrete tombs in the center of the room. She nodded for Rachel to go in the opposite direction, hoping the vampire wouldn't be able to make an escape. Quinn and Rachel met at the other side, though, and the blonde frowned, looking around.

"Where did the vampire go?" Rachel asked, frowning as well. "Did we miss him outside?"

Quinn sighed as she looked around the room again, trying to see if there was anything she missed. "I don't know. There was no place for him to hide, and I thought for sure he would be in here."

Quinn heard a scraping sound and a voice say, "My mistress will see you at sundown."

She turned around just in time to see the door slam shut. There were more scrapes and clicks as Quinn ran over to the door; she tried to open it, but it wasn't budging. Quinn tried again, but when it was clear the door wasn't going to open easily, she took a few steps back, and kicked it. She kicked several more times, but the door didn't move an inch. It was thick and metal, so she knew there was no way she was going to break through. She shone the light around, trying to see if there was any other way out, but there was nothing that she could see.

"Are we locked in?" Rachel asked.

Quinn took a deep breath and exhaled as she said, "We're locked in."

* * *

><p>The room was getting lighter as the sun began to rise. Rachel was sitting on the chilly floor of the mausoleum, watching Quinn walk around the room.<p>

"You should rest," Rachel said.

Quinn shook her head. "There has to be a way out."

"You've looked everywhere," Rachel replied.

"Maybe I'm missing something," Quinn said, throwing her hands up.

"Quinn, it's been a long night," Rachel said, reaching out for her hand. "Just rest for a few minutes, and then you can continue looking."

Quinn sighed and looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded, and sat down next to Rachel. The blonde had spent the last hour looking over every square inch of the room only to find no way out. The tiny window was far too small for either of them to get through and the door was completely solid. It appeared as if they were trapped in the room, and if what the vampire said was anything to go by, they were being trapped for Shelby to kill.

"I can't believe I forgot my phone," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"It's not your fault," Quinn softly said.

Rachel hated feeling so helpless; they were trapped and had no way of contacting anyone. Rachel had left her phone in the training room, where she forgot it on the bench, and Quinn's phone had died a few hours prior.

"Yes, but if I had my phone, we could call Brittany and Santana," Rachel argued. "We could be home right now if I hadn't been so forgetful."

"It's not the first time you've forgotten your phone and I doubt it will be the last," Quinn said, nudging her.

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Rachel said, frowning.

"We'll get out, Rach," Quinn stated. "We always do."

Rachel nodded, but she had the feeling Quinn didn't believe what she was saying; she figured Quinn was probably just saying it for her sake.

"What time is it?" Rachel asked.

"Almost seven," Quinn said, looking at her watch.

"So, we have less than twelve hours to get out of here before the sun sets again," Rachel said, knowing the sun went down around 6:30.

"Okay, rest time is over," Quinn said, standing up.

Rachel watched as Quinn went back, checking over everything she had already looked at. Rachel stood up, suddenly feeling like she needed to be more useful. She turned around, looking at the wall she'd been leaning against, and put her hands against it. The wall had grooves in it, and Rachel felt along every panel to see if they were all solid. She checked every bit of the wall that she could reach and then went to the next, until she had checked all four walls.

Rachel stood back and sighed. "I don't think the wall is going to move."

She looked over at Quinn, who was trying to move the tomb in the center off the room. When that didn't work, Quinn moved the top off the tomb and scrunched up her face.

"There's a skeleton in here," Quinn said, looking down.

Rachel walked over and looked inside as Quinn reached in. There was a piece of cloth that the skeleton was lying on, and Quinn lifted the corner, shifting the bones inside.

"I think the bottom's solid," Rachel commented.

"Yeah," Quinn said, dropping the cloth.

Quinn sighed and slid the top back into place before moving on to the other tomb. Rachel smiled sadly at her and walked over to inspect the ceramic sculpture near the door. There was nothing, though—no buttons or levers that could possible open anything in the room. She even checked the door over, though Quinn had already done that multiple times. She heard the tomb's lid slide back into place, and she sighed, looking around the room once again. It wasn't that big and they had looked over every part of the room, sometimes several times.

"Come here," Quinn said, nodded her over.

"What?" Rachel asked as she walked to her.

"I'm going to lift you up," Quinn stated. "Let me know if you see anyone out there.

"Okay," Rachel said, bracing herself.

Quinn lifted her with ease, but Rachel let out a little squeak of surprise. Once she got her bearings, she put her hands on the dusty ledge and tried to look out. The window was covered in dirt and grime, though, and Rachel had to wipe it off with her hand. Once she did that, she could actually see outside, but there wasn't a lot to see. It was fairly light out now, but the cemetery was completely empty. Lucky for them, there was no one out there that was about to attack them, but there was also no one that was going to be able to save them.

"I don't see anyone," Rachel said.

Quinn lowered her to the ground. "I guess we're stuck in here until someone lets us out."

"Maybe Brittany and Santana will realize we're missing and come looking for us," Rachel reasoned.

"Yeah," Quinn replied. "Maybe."

* * *

><p>"How long have we been in here?" Rachel asked<p>

"An hour and a half," Quinn said, looking at her watch.

"So we have ten and a half hours left," Rachel said, nodding.

"About that," Quinn replied.

"Okay, I think we should come up with a plan," Rachel said as she paced in front of Quinn.

"What plan?" Quinn asked, looking up at her. "Yell until someone hears us? I don't think that's going to work. This is one of the oldest graveyards in Lima; I don't think anyone's going to come to visit the graves."

"What about a groundskeeper?" Rachel asked.

"They probably would have been here this morning if they were going to be here," Quinn replied.

"Okay," Rachel said, sighing. "There has to be something we can do, though. We can't just sit here all day and wait for them to come to us. We have to be pragmatic about this. Shelby is going to be here as soon as the sun sets, so we need to be out of here by then if we don't want to do, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to."

Quinn tilted her head and smiled softly. "Rachel, we also need to stay calm; panicking isn't going to help anything."

"I'm not panicking!" Rachel replied.

"Rach, sweetie, you're panicking," Quinn said with a laugh. "We have ten hours; I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but ten hours is better than nothing."

Rachel shook her head and continued to pace; Quinn watched her girlfriend and wondered what plan she was trying to come up with. She didn't see any options, but knowing Rachel, she would come up with something. It was one of the many things she loved about Rachel—she always tried to see the brighter side of things. Quinn wondered how long it would last, though; she was a dreamer about many things, but she was also a realist when it came to the slaying, and this was definitely a bad situation that they were in.

Rachel abruptly stopped and stared up at the window. "Do you think I could fit through that?"

"No," Quinn said, following her gaze. "You're tiny, but not that tiny."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

"I'm sure," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed and turned to look at the door. "What about hinges? Could we find something to remove them and then break down the door?"

She didn't want to rain on Rachel's parade, but she really didn't think there was any way out of this place other than someone opening that door. She knew the chance was slim for someone to find them there before sundown, and the last things she wanted was for Rachel to be there when she finally came face to face with Shelby.

"Rachel, you're tired," Quinn said, watching the brunette closely. "Why don't you lie down. We've both been up all night." Rachel stopped at her and looked at her like she was crazy, but Quinn just smiled. "I'm serious. Just lay your head in my lap; if you don't fall asleep, you can get back up and try to use the sword to pry the hinges apart. Please—just try."

"Okay," Rachel said, nodding.

Rachel finally stopped and lowered herself next to Quinn. She looked like she was about to stand up again, but she sighed, putting her head onto Quinn's lap.

"I'm so tired," Rachel admitted.

"I know," Quinn replied, running her hand through Rachel's dark hair.

"We're going to get out of this," Rachel added.

"I know," Quinn repeated.

"I'll eventually come up with a plan," Rachel said, sounding as if she was succumbing to sleep.

"I know," Quinn said again.

Rachel smiled sleepily. "I mean it."

Quinn smiled at the sight. "I know."

"I love you," Rachel mumbled.

"I love you, too," Quinn said, leaning down, and kissing the side of Rachel's head.

Quinn watched as Rachel closed her eyes and she took a deep breath. She was glad Rachel was finally sleeping; she wanted her to be as rested as she could be because she knew it would be her best shot of getting out of this alive. They had been up for over twenty-four hours, and while Quinn didn't need as much sleep since becoming the Slayer, Rachel was only human. Quinn knew she was exhausted most of the time even though she didn't say anything. She wondered how long Rachel was going to be able to live like this; she felt like it was only a matter of time before she finally had enough and wanted to go back to her old life.

Part of her wanted Rachel to get tired of this life—she knew the brunette would be a lot safer if she lived a normal, quiet life—but the other part of her couldn't imagine doing this without Rachel by her side.

* * *

><p>Brittany looked around the table and frowned; something was missing, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. She went back to eating her hamburger and then looked up again when she realized Quinn and Rachel weren't there. Her Cheerios practice was earlier than normal since they were getting ready for a competition, and Quinn's car wasn't in the driveway before she left, but that wasn't that unusual since it was 5am. She shrugged, figuring they were either in the auditorium, choir room, and the training room—or possibly off fighting evil.<p>

"Are you okay, Brittany?" Kurt asked. "You look confused."

"I was just wondering where Quinn and Rach are," Brittany said, shrugging. "They're probably in the choir room or something, though."

"Actually, they weren't in last period," Tina commented.

"Quinn wasn't in English, either," Puck added.

"I don't think they're here today, Brittany," Tina said.

Brittany frowned again as she set her burger down. She knew Quinn would be okay with missing school, but as much as Rachel freaked out about missing it when she was going crazy, she didn't think the brunette would be so willing. Something just felt off to her—something felt wrong. Her stomach twisted as a feeling of panic came over her.

"Britt, sweetie, you're pale," Kurt said, putting his hand on her forehead.

"Are you feeling alright?" Artie asked.

"Do we need to take you to the nurse?" Tina asked.

"I'm okay," Brittany lied.

"I'll take her," Puck said, standing up.

"Why you?" Mercedes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because if she passes out, I can carry her ass there," Puck replied.

Brittany locked eyes with Puck; she could see worry in them and knew they weren't headed for the nurse. She stood up and followed Puck out of the cafeteria. Once they were in the hall, Puck looked around, and then turned to her.

"What's going on?" Puck asked.

"I'm not sure," Brittany replied.

"There's something wrong, though, isn't there?" Puck said. "When you found out Quinn and Rachel weren't here, you looked like you'd seen a damn ghost—you didn't, did you?"

"No," Brittany said, shaking her head. "I just feel like something's wrong. I don't think Rach would miss school."

"Yeah, she was a total crazy person when she found out she missed last time," Puck replied.

Brittany looked down the hall. "I'm going to check around; maybe they're here and we just don't know it."

Puck nodded. "You check the locker room and I'll look in the auditorium."

"I'll also get the choir room since it's on the way," Brittany said, breaking away from Puck.

Brittany quickly walked down the hall and went into the choir room, but the only person in the room was Mr. Schue, who was standing by the piano with some sheet music. She tried to slip away before he saw her, but right as she hit the doorway, he called out, "What are you doing here, Brittany?"

Brittany stopped and turned around. "I was looking for Quinn or Rachel; I thought they might be here."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen them," Mr. Schue replied.

"I'm going to check someplace else," Brittany said as she backed out of the room.

"I'll see you after school," Mr. Schue called after her.

Brittany picked up the pace as she walked to the locker room. Even if they weren't there, she knew Sue usually spent a lot of time in the training room, so maybe she would know where they were. There were several Cheerios in the locker room and she knew she couldn't go into the other room without drawing attention to it, so she walked around the corner and watched them. It took several minutes, but they finally started walking out. As soon as they were out of the room, she walked to the door and checked the knob. The door was locked, so she knocked on it, and waited.

"What?" Sue said the moment she opened the door.

"Are Rachel and Quinn here?" Brittany asked.

Sue scowled. "I haven't seen them; they skipped training this morning. They were supposed to report back on last night's patrol."

"I think something's wrong," Brittany said. "They're not at school."

Sue scowl went from anger to more of a concerned frown. "I'll see what I can find out."

Brittany nodded. "I'm going to call San; maybe they're home.

"Let me know if she knows anything," Sue instructed.

Brittany nodded again and turned to leave the locker room. Her phone was in her bag, which was in her locker, so she walked out of the room and went back the way she came. Puck was waiting where she had left him and he came down the hall when she stopped by her locker.

"They weren't there," he said.

"I didn't find them, either," Brittany replied as she put in her combination. "I'm calling San. Maybe they're home."

She pulled on the lock and quickly removed it; she rifled through her backpack, trying to find her phone, and she finally found it near the bottom of her bag. She started scrolling to Santana's name, but realized she should probably call Rachel or Quinn first. She tried the latter's phone first, but it went straight to her voicemail, so she then called Rachel's phone. It rang several times and then she heard the click of someone answering.

"Rachel, are you and Quinn okay?" she immediately asked.

"It's not Rachel." Brittany recognized Sue's voice on the other end. "She left her phone here."

Brittany sighed. "I'm calling San now."

"What's going on?" Puck asked.

"Rachel left her phone in the training room," Brittany said as she hit the call button.

"What's up, B?" Santana asked.

"Did Quinn and Rachel ever come home last night?" Brittany asked.

"Haven't seen them today," Santana replied.

"Can you check their rooms?" Brittany asked.

"I was up there earlier," Santana replied. "They're not here, Britt."

"Something's wrong," Brittany said, trying not to cry. "They never came home, they're not at school—no one knows where they are."

"Calm down, Brittany," Santana softly said. "Maybe they just—"

"What?" Brittany interrupted. "You know they wouldn't just not come home unless something happened."

There was a pause on the other end and then Santana asked, "What do you want me to do?"

* * *

><p>Rachel started shifting in Quinn's lap as she slowly began to wake. She turned on to her back and finally opened her eyes, looking up at Quinn.<p>

"Hi," Rachel sleepily said.

Quinn smiled at her. "Hey."

"How long was I asleep?" Rachel asked.

"About four hours," Quinn replied.

Rachel bolted up. "Why did you let me sleep that long."

"That long?" Quinn asked. "Rach, you were up all night; four hours is not a lot."

"Yes, but we should be coming up with a plan, not sleeping," Rachel said, frowning. "What time is it?"

"Around noon," Quinn replied.

Rachel groaned as she moved. "That floor is not comfortable."

"I'd say not," Quinn commented.

Rachel sighed. "Do you think anyone has noticed that we're not at school?"

"Maybe," Quinn said, shrugging. "That doesn't mean they're going to do anything about it, though."

"Brittany would," Rachel replied. "And Noah—he's very protective of you."

"He's more protective of you," Quinn said, smiling. "I think he thinks of you like a sister—or at least I hope that's how he thinks of you. If not, I'm going to have to have a little talk with him."

"There is nothing, nor has there ever been anything between me and Noah," Rachel stated.

"I was only joking—mostly," Quinn said, smirking.

Rachel grabbed Quinn's arm and looked at her watch. "We really need to get out of here in the next three hours; I do not want to miss Glee practice. Regionals are less than two weeks away, and we cannot miss rehearsals. If we do, we're going to get behind, and if we get behind, we're going to lose. We have to get to Nationals; I know this is only our first year, but I really think we can make it and show everyone that we're not just a bunch of losers."

Quinn smiled; of course Rachel was concerned with getting out—not because they could very well die after sundown, but because she was going to miss Glee practice.

"What do you think Schue's assignment will be for us this week?" Quinn asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "He shouldn't give us any assignment; we should be focusing all our efforts on perfecting our routines considering we're this close to Regionals. I really don't understand why he's so concerned with us leaning a lesson, especially not when it's at the expense of us winning this competition. We all know he's living vicariously through us, trying to relive his glory days—you would really think he would do everything to help us win, not take our focus away from it.

"We need to be as polished as we can be, which means we need to rehearse like crazy over the next few weeks. Our set list isn't exactly the most contemporary and it doesn't really show off our vocal abilities, especially not with who Mr. Schue has chosen to sing each verse. I don't know why he insists on trying to make Finn the leading man when Noah would be a much better choice. Neither of them are particularly gifted dancers, but Noah has a much better voice and we sound great together. Mr. Schue's choice of song has put us at a disadvantage before we've even started, so we can't afford to be anything short of perfect. Vocal Adrenaline is supposed to be fantastic, and while I believe we have the talent to beat them, right now I don't know if we are prepared enough."

"Feel better?" Quinn asked as Rachel took a deep breath.

Rachel nodded. "A little bit. I mean it, though; we need to get out of here, and the sooner the better."

"I know," Quinn replied.

She knew they needed to, she just didn't know how that was going to happen. While Rachel slept she was trying to come up with an plan to get out of the mausoleum, but she kept coming back to the same thing—the only way out was if someone opened those locks from the outside. She was strong, but she wasn't strong enough to break through a cement wall or an iron door, and unless she or Rachel suddenly became half their size, they weren't getting out of the window. If only she had been able to get home to charge her phone or Rachel hadn't forgotten hers at school; they could have just called Brittany and would have been out within an hour.

Rachel stood up and put her hands on her hips. "I know I've looked, but I'm looking again."

"Rach—"

"Don't try to stop me," Rachel interrupted, holding up a hand. "I'm not going to die in here, and what else do I have to do with my time; we're locked in a mausoleum."

"Okay," Quinn replied. "And you're right—you're not going to die in here.

Quinn had never meant anything more in her life. If it was the last thing she did—and she knew it very well could be—she was going to get Rachel out of this.

* * *

><p>"You look tired," Rachel said, noticing just how exhausted Quinn looked. "Maybe you should get some rest. You made me sleep, but you've been up just as long as I have—longer, really."<p>

Quinn shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You always say that," Rachel said, sighing.

"I always mean it," Quinn replied, giving Rachel a small smile. "Really, I'm fine. I'm a little tired, but it's not the first time I've stayed up this long, and I highly doubt it will be the last."

Rachel frowned. "Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know."

"I will," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed and looked around the room; it was very plain and drab, and she really didn't want this to be the last thing she saw before she died. She knew Quinn would do everything she could to get them out of this, but the problem was there didn't seem to be much she could do. They were obviously stuck in here—they had both looked over every square inch of this place—and even though Rachel was trying to stay positive, she didn't know how they were going to manage to get out. She kept telling herself they had been in tight spots before that they managed to get out of, and this would be no exception.

Rachel wondered what time it was; instead of asking Quinn yet again, she grabbed her arm and looked at her watch. It was a little after four, which meant Glee was in full swing and they were missing it. Surely someone would think that was weird; Rachel never missed Glee with the exception of her little episode the previous month.

"Two and a half hours," Quinn said, looking at her watch once Rachel released her arm.

Quinn sighed and stood up, walking over to the window. The large ceramic sculpture that previously sat next to the door was now under the window; together, she and Quinn had managed to pull it over. Quinn climbed on top of it and looked out the window as she had been every ten or so minutes for the past few hours. Her originally plan had been to stay standing on it, but it was difficult to do, so she'd abandoned that plan and now checked every little bit. There hadn't been a single person in the cemetery, though.

"Anything?" Rachel asked.

"No," Quinn said, stepping down.

Rachel watched as Quinn walked back over; the blonde hadn't said anything, but Rachel could tell by her face that she was worried. She sat down beside of her, sighing, and Rachel reached over, entwining their fingers together.

"Do you have any regrets?" Rachel asked.

"About what?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.

Rachel shrugged. "Anything."

"You make it sound like we're going to die today," Quinn said, smiling wryly.

"I'm serious," Rachel said, tilting her head.

"Do I have any regrets," Quinn said, biting her bottom lip. "Well, I regret choosing this cemetery to come to today."

Rachel laughed. "I can't blame you for that one."

"I don't regret a lot, but everything I regret is about you," Quinn stated. "One of my regrets is waiting so long to go on a date with you, but I guess my biggest regret was being such a bitch to you for so long." Quinn shook her head. "If I had just accepted how I felt instead of trying to pretend I hated you, I wouldn't have wasted a year of my life being horrible to you. We could have had a normal friendship for a while without," Quinn motion around, "all of this getting in the way."

"You don't regret what happened with your parents?" Rachel asked.

Quinn visibly stiffened. "No. Sometimes I wish things could have been differently with my mother, but—I know that will never happen. She'll stay by Russell's side until the day he dies." Quinn cleared her throat. "What about you? Any regrets?"

Rachel opened her mouth as her mind flashed to two months ago. She had never really lied to anyone in her life, especially not someone she loved, but she lied to Quinn. She lied to Quinn about something huge, and it still weighed heavily on her mind. Every day she would be reminded of it and she had been on the verge of telling her multiple times, but the words never quite left her lips. If Quinn knew, she was afraid of what would happen, and if the information caused Quinn to hesitate in any way while fighting Shelby—well, Rachel could never live with herself if that was the reason Quinn got hurt—or worse. She knew Quinn would feel betrayed if she ever found out, but she hopes the blonde would understand that she was only doing it because she thought it was the right thing to do.

"One—well, two," Rachel finally answered. "I regret not tricking you into going on a date with me sooner." They both laughed. "I also regret that there was nothing I could do to save my father. If I had just discovered all of this a little sooner, he might still be here. And before you say anything, I know it's not my fault, but I still wish there was something I could have done."

"Me too," Quinn softly replied as she put her head on Rachel's shoulder.

* * *

><p>Brittany had been staring at the door for the past forty-five minutes; she'd expected Quinn and Rachel to walk in at any moment, but Glee was coming to a close and neither of them had shown. She knew Rachel and she knew she would never miss unless she was dying or already dead. Especially not with Regionals this close. She had been lecturing everyone on why they couldn't miss any rehearsal—there had even been a PowerPoint on the subject.<p>

Everyone suddenly started moving and she realized she had no idea what was going on; she'd zoned out as soon as Mr. Schue started talking. As soon as she saw people grabbing their bags, though, she realized he must have dismissed them. Class shouldn't be over yet, but Rachel wasn't there to keep them on track—and to keep their teacher on track.

"Are you okay, Brittany?" Tina asked, stopping by her side.

"Huh?" Brittany asked, looking up.

"Are you okay?" Tina repeated.

"I'm fine," Brittany absentmindedly replied.

"You've looked really worried all day," Tina continued. "Your cat didn't run away again, did he? Because I still have a bunch of those fliers and I'm sure Artie and Mike would help us put them up again."

"No, he's home right now," Brittany replied. "He's actually grounded because I caught him trying to break into the liquor cabinet."

"I—" Tina gave a confused look. "Well, that's not good."

"It's the second time he's tried to do it," Brittany said, shaking her head. "I keep telling him it's bad for him, but he doesn't want to listen."

"Are you worried because Quinn and Rachel missed today?" Tina asked.

Brittany nodded. "No one's seen them and I don't know where they are. Quinn's phone just goes to voicemail and Rachel left her phone here last night, so I can't call them, and they're not home, and no one can tell me where they are, and I'm really worried that they're in trouble or something." Brittany took a deep breath. "Rach wouldn't just miss school and I know she wouldn't miss Glee."

Tina frowned. "You're right; we had to sit through that thirty minute PowerPoint on why we need to come to every rehearsal and the damages of being late to them."

"Are you sure they're not home?" Tina asked. "Maybe they both came down with something and they just don't feel like getting up to answer the phone. When was the last time you checked there?"

"Not that long ago," Brittany replied. "I talked to Rachel's dad and he said they were out."

It was a lie, but she couldn't tell Tina that Santana had called just before Glee to say that they still hadn't shown up. Santana had been sending her texts every hour, but they all said the same thing—still not here. Santana wasn't completely convinced that they were any danger, but Brittany trusted her gut, and her gut told her something was wrong.

She was planning on doing a locator spell, but they were out of mugwort and she'd used her last moonstone just the other day. The metaphysical store was closed on Mondays, but she knew the owner and her coven met there in the evening. She planned on going there and waiting on the owner, hoping she would sell her what she needed. The Pierce family was a good customer to them, though, so Brittany didn't think it would be a problem. As soon as she got those last two items, she would be able to do the spell, and hopefully find Quinn and Rachel.

"I'm sure they're fine," Tina said, but Brittany could see in her eyes that she didn't quite believe it. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Brittany said, shrugging.

"How well do you know Quinn and Rachel?" Tina asked.

"Quinn's my best friend," Brittany replied. "And I guess Rachel's my second best friend."

Tina nodded. "What's going on with them?"

"What do you mean?" Brittany asked, frowning.

"I just mean they're both so different now," Tina replied. "All Rachel used to care about was singing, and Quinn only cared about cheerleading and becoming prom queen. Near the beginning of the school, Quinn completely freaked out while we were in class, and she really hasn't been the same since then. I even saw Puck and Quinn carrying Rachel down the hall last month."

"Umm, I don't know—oh look, there's Puck," Brittany said, turning quickly, and walking toward him.

"Whoa, where are we going?" Puck asked as Brittany grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the room.

"We're going to find Quinn and Rach," Brittany replied. "I just need to get a few things first."

* * *

><p>Rachel groaned in frustration and stood up. She was tired of sitting around doing nothing; she needed to do something—anything. If she was going to die today, she didn't want to spend her last few hours just waiting around for it to happen; she needed to be proactive. She needed to know she did everything she could have possibly done.<p>

"There has to be a way out," Rachel stated. "There just has to be."

"They chose this place because there is no way out," Quinn stated. "They knew what they were doing. All those locks on the door? When was the last time you saw that many locks on a mausoleum, especially one with nothing to steal? They set a trap for us and I fell for it."

Rachel shook her head. "No. I don't accept it. There has to be a way out of this."

Quinn sighed. "Rachel—"

"No, Quinn," the brunette interrupted. "I'm not going to sit around and wait for them to come to us. I know you, Quinn; you don't just wait for things to happen, either."

"What do you suggest?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know," Rachel replied, looking around. "Maybe we're missing something."

"We've looked everywhere," Quinn replied.

"Well—we should look again," Rachel said, walking toward the middle of the room.

"Okay," Quinn said, standing up.

Rachel turned and walked toward the wall opposite the one they'd been leaning against. She got on her hands and knees, checking the bottom of the wall for anything. As she made her way around the room, she looked over her shoulder; Quinn was standing at the door, staring at it, her hands on her hips. Rachel didn't know what she was doing, but she was going to leave her to it, so she went back to going along the bottom of the wall. When she got to the end the only thing she'd found was a loose piece of concrete that had broken away, but the part behind it was still very solid. She sighed in frustration and sat down, leaning her back against the wall.

"Giving up already?" Quinn asked.

"No," Rachel replied. "I'm simply taking a small break and reassessing the situation."

Quinn nodded and turned back to the door.

"I wonder if I could do a spell," Rachel said, suddenly thinking of it. "I mean—I did one before."

"With supplies," Quinn reminded her.

"I know, but maybe I could do one without those," Rachel replied. "I know it's a longshot, but what harm could it do?"

Quinn laughed. "A spell by someone that has no idea what they're really doing?" Quinn shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile. "I don't see how that could possibly go wrong."

Rachel huffed. "I could at least try."

"I'm not telling you not to," Quinn replied. "If you want try, go for it."

"I will," Rachel said with a nod.

Rachel sat quietly as she tried to think of a spell; she really wished she could look one up, but that obviously was not an option. Even if she had her laptop with her, she very much doubted she would be able to pick up Wi-Fi where they were. There were a few houses next to the cemetery and across the street, but they were too far away to get an internet signal.

"Okay, I think I have it," Rachel said, clearing her throat. "Don't laugh; I'm not very good at rhyming and I've never had to come up with a spell on my own before." Rachel took a deep breath. "Hear me now spirits of the room, help us from this tomb. With us under lock and key, help us to be free. Listen to these words I say, help us without delay."

Rachel listening in case anything was happening, and sighed when nothing seemed to change. Quinn checked the door nonetheless, but it still didn't budge.

"I didn't think that would work, but I was really hoping it would," Rachel stated.

"Me too," Quinn replied, giving her a small smile. "I think we have to face it, though; there's only one way we're going to get out of this room and that's if someone opens that door from the outside. Considering we only have," Quinn looked at her watch, "a little over an hour and a half, once it's opened, we'll probably be wishing it hadn't been."

"Maybe someone will come for us," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Brittany had to notice we weren't as school today. Surely she'll do something. Or Sue—we missed training this morning, and I doubt she was very happy about that. Maybe she tried to find us to yell at us, and realized we're missing."

"It's possible," Quinn replied. "Believe me, I hope that's the case, but if it's not—"

"No," Rachel said, interrupted the blonde. "I don't want to think about that right now."

"What do you want to think about?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know," Rachel replied. "What we're going to do on our next date."

Quinn smiled. "Am I planning it or are you?"

* * *

><p>Quinn glanced at Rachel, who was sitting next to her. The brunette seemed to have finally given up about fifteen minutes ago and she was now sitting on the floor, looking forlorn. Quinn wanted to take her mind off everything, but she was currently at a loss for how to do that. Things were looking pretty bad for them; they only had an hour left before the sun was finally down, which meant they only had an hour for something miraculous to happen.<p>

"As soon as we get out of here, I want to order a pizza," Quinn suddenly said.

Rachel looked at her seriously for a moment and then let out of laugh. "That's what you're thinking about?"

"Yeah," Quinn replied. "I'm hungry, aren't you?"

"I think I've been too nervous to be hungry," Rachel said.

Quinn knew she should probably be scared, but she wasn't. She had known for a while that it would eventually come down to this—her fighting Shelby—and she had accepted her fate. She was in no way ready to die, though; she was determined to be the one to come out of this, not Shelby, and she was going to do everything possible for today to not be the day that she died.

Rachel glanced at her. "I don't understand why you're so calm about this."

Quinn shrugged. "Because I need to be; I can't let myself get scared. If I get scared, I'll be distracted, and if I'm distracted—" Quinn didn't feel the need to finish the sentence.

Rachel looked down and took Quinn's hand. "Then let's keep you focused on what really matters. Us both getting out of this and getting pizza afterwards."

"And maybe a movie," Quinn added. "I'll even let you pick." Quinn paused and looked at the brunette. "You're going to finally make me watch Funny Girl, aren't you?"

"I am," Rachel said, smiling.

"Maybe I should rethink this whole living thing," Quinn joked.

"Very funny," Rachel said, nudging her shoulder into Quinn's.

Quinn gave her a small smile and leaned forward, bringing their lips together. She pulled back, looking into Rachel's dark eyes for a moment, and then the brunette leaned forward again. All thoughts of dying went out of Quinn's mind as Rachel's tongue grazed her bottom lip. Quinn opened her mouth, her tongue meeting Rachel's, and her hand landing on Rachel's waist.

Their position was a little awkward, and Rachel must have thought so too, because she started shifting. Rachel threw her leg over Quinn's, so she was straddling her. Quinn's other hand found her waist as Rachel's arms slid around the back of Quinn's neck. Somewhere in the back of Quinn's mind, she knew it was a little morbid to be making out in a mausoleum, but there was the possibility of one of both of them dying today and she wasn't going to go out without feeling this one last time.

"I love you," Rachel said, pulling away slightly.

"I love you, too," Quinn said, leaning her forehead against Rachel's.

"We'll get through this," Rachel stated.

"I know we will," Quinn said, trying to believe it.

Rachel sighed, gave Quinn another kiss, and got off her lap. She sat down next to her again, sitting closer than before, and Quinn wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder. From where they were sitting, Quinn could see the sky; the sun was getting lower and the sky was starting to become slightly orange.

"This could be the last sunset we see," Rachel stated.

"Don't talk like that," Quinn said, kissing her temple. "Didn't you just say we'd get through this?"

Quinn didn't like seeing her pessimistic; the girl was the most optimistic person Quinn had ever met and it just wasn't right hearing her say things like that.

"You know it's true," Rachel replied, sighing.

Quinn shook her head. "I don't want to think about that."

"Me either," Rachel said, snuggling even closer to Quinn. "I think the situation is starting to hit me, though. We're trapped with absolutely no way out, and Shelby is going to be here in less than an hour." Rachel sighed. "The situation is starting to look fairly dire, and while I will admit I'm normally optimistic to a fault—I'm worried."

"So am I," Quinn admitted. "I'm not ready to die, though, and I'm even less ready for you to die." Quinn looked at Rachel. "We'll get through this."

Rachel smiled softly, put her head on Quinn's shoulder, and replied with, "I know we will."

* * *

><p>The sun was nearly down; Quinn looked at her watch for what felt like the thousandth time today and saw that it was three minutes after six, which meant that they now had less than thirty minutes. Quinn was torn between looking out the window to see if anyone was there to help them and holding Rachel, but Rachel won out. No one had been at the cemetery all day, and she highly doubted anyone would be out here when the sun was almost down. Most people in Lima didn't know about the monsters that came out at night, but they still usually stayed indoors once the sunset. She didn't know if it was because deep-down they knew Lima wasn't like other towns or if it was because the people who did venture out at night usually didn't last long.<p>

She thought Rachel had fallen asleep, but then the other girl shifted their conjoined hands into her lap. Neither of them had said anything in a while; Quinn was deep in thought as she tried to think of every scenario that could possibly happen. She went over everything in her head, hoping she could be prepared for anything. She didn't like to be surprised, which was what she was trying to prevent. She needed to go over everything because she needed to figure out how to get Rachel out of there.

Rachel sighed and turned her head, looking at Quinn. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just going through everything in my head," Quinn replied.

"Do you have a plan?" Rachel asked.

"I have many plans," Quinn replied.

"Are any of them how to get out of here in the next twenty minutes?" Rachel asked.

Quinn smiled. "Unfortunately no."

"Too bad," Rachel replied.

"I know," Quinn said.

"How long do you think it will take Shelby to get here once the sun is down?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed. "Something tells me not long. If this was her plan, she's probably not far away. My guess—fifteen minutes if we're lucky."

"Do you think she lives near here?" Rachel asked.

"It makes sense," Quinn replied. "I'm going to guess she wouldn't be in the position she's in if she wasn't smart and calculating. I think she would pick someplace nearby—probably the closest and oldest cemetery around. I wouldn't even be surprised if she's had someone watching us this whole time to make sure we're still in here."

"So what are these plans of yours?" Rachel asked.

"I'm just trying to think of anything that could possibly happen," Quinn said, shaking her head. "You know I'm not much for surprises, and I was just coming up with a strategy for each possible scenario."

"Do you think she'll come alone?" Rachel asked.

"I do," Quinn replied. "I think she'll want to kill me herself to prove how powerful she is. If she does, though, I have a plan for that. Either way, I need you to promise me something."

Rachel frowned. "Promise you what?"

"Either way, I want you to get out of here," Quinn stated. "I will fight her until the very end, but I need to know you're safe. I will do whatever I can to distract her, and then I want you to run; run to the nearest house and call Santana."

"Do you really think I would just leave you here to die?" Rachel asked. "I can help you."

Quinn sighed. "I know you can, but I need you to do this—I need you to promise that you will get out."

"Quinn—"

"I'm serious," Quinn interrupted. "This isn't a negotiation. Promise me."

"No," Rachel asked, shaking her head.

"Rachel, promise me," Quinn stated.

"Fine," Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I promise I'll run to the nearest house and call Santana."

"And you won't come back," Quinn added.

Rachel's eyes narrowed. "Why do you know me so well?"

"Because I love you," Quinn replied. "That's why I want to make sure you're safe. It would be one thing if we were prepared and we were the ones attacking, but this is going to be too unpredictable, we're in a very small space, and we have limited weapons."

Rachel looked away. "Fine."

Quinn put her hand over Rachel's and looked out the window. The sun was almost down at this point; she could see from her vantage point that the sky was orange with a little bit of pink, and it was much darker than only a few minutes ago. Their time had officially run out.

* * *

><p>Rachel paced nervously in front of Quinn and the blonde watched her. It was actually sort of calming watching her walk back and forth, and it took her mind off the fact that the door could be opened at any moment. Quinn could barely see the brunette at this point, though; the sun was down and the sky was quickly becoming dark.<p>

"Did you hear that?" Rachel asked, stopping abruptly.

"I didn't hear anything," Quinn replied.

"That," Rachel said, turning to look at the door. "Someone's out there."

Quinn sighed, knowing who that someone probably was. "Remember what you promised."

Rachel took a deep breath and said, "I lied."

"What?" Quinn asked.

"I'm not leaving you here to die alone," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips. "I know you want me to call Santana, but she wouldn't make it here that quickly. It would be at least fifteen minutes, and I think you would be better off with my help during that time."

"Rach—"

"No," Rachel interrupted. "I'm not leaving you in this place to die. I'm going to help you and there will be no discussion about that. If something happens to me, it's my fault; you told me to go, and I'm not listening, so you're not allowed to blame yourself. If I left, though, and something happened to you, I would never forgive myself."

"And you think I would?" Quinn asked.

"I don't want to argue about this," Rachel replied, ignoring the question. "I'm not going and you can't make me."

Quinn couldn't help but smile. "You're cute when you're bossy."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Don't change the subject."

Quinn jumped when there was the obvious sound of footsteps just outside the door. She listened intently as she stepped between Rachel and the door. She reached in her back pocket, grabbed a stake, and handed it to Rachel for protection; the brunette already had one in her hand, but if she was going to be sticking around, she was going to need more than that. Once Rachel took the stake, Quinn bent over, grabbing a dagger that was strapped to her left leg and handed that to Rachel was well.

"How'd she get here so fast?" Rachel whispered.

"I don't know," Quinn whispered back.

"I love you," Rachel whispered quickly as the sound of the locks coming undone could be heard.

"I love you, too," Quinn replied, looking back at Rachel, though she could hardly make out where she even was.

"Quinn, Rachel—are you in there?"

Quinn let out a long, relieved breath just a Rachel said, "Oh my god."

"Brittany!" Quinn hissed, walking up to the door.

"Oh, it is you!" Brittany said, sounding happy. "I was afraid my locator spell might have been wrong, but then I saw all the locks and that seemed weird."

"Why didn't you say anything when you came to the door?" Quinn asked. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

"I don't know," Brittany said, opening the door, and Quinn took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of the fresh air.

"I have never been so happy to see anyone in my life," Rachel said, walking up, and hugging Brittany.

"How'd you get locked in there?" Brittany asked.

"Shelby," Rachel answered. "One of her minions locked us in there this morning."

"Speaking of which, we need to get out of here," Quinn said. "She'll probably be here any moment, and I would be very happy if I didn't have to fight her today."

"She's right," Rachel stated. "Let's go home."

Quinn smiled; she'd never heard a better plan in all her life. "Brittany, do you have your phone with you?"

"Yeah," Brittany replied.

"Good," Quinn said as she began to walk toward where she had parked. "Can I borrow it for a second? I want to order a pizza."

* * *

><p>"Where the hell have you been?" Santana asked the moment they came through the door. "You had—Brittany worried, and if you ever do that again, I'll kick your ass."<p>

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Quinn asked, walking into the living room, and sitting down on the couch.

"I'll have Brittany reverse the spell and put it back once I've done the ass kicking," Santana said, scowling at her. "Now—where the hell have you been?"

Quinn sighed. "While we were in patrol we were fighting a couple vampires and the last one ran off. We followed and thought he went in this mausoleum, but when we went in, there was no one there. Long story short, he locked us in."

"And you couldn't get out?" Santana asked, scoffing. "Some Slayer you are."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's hard to break out of room that's all concrete and only has a very solid, iron door and one very small window."

"Too small for the midget to get through?" Santana asked.

"I am not a midget and yes, it was far too small for me to fit through," Rachel said, frowning at the vampire.

"Wait," Santana said, holding up her hand. "Why would some vampire lock you in somewhere? Why didn't he just kill you?"

"Because he was locking us in there for Shelby," Quinn answered.

"If Brittany hadn't arrived when she did—" Rachel paused. "She probably saved our lives."

"You should probably let Miss Sylvester know you're okay," Brittany said, looking at Quinn. "She was really worried about you guys."

"I'll call her," Rachel said, giving Quinn's hand a squeeze, before walking to the phone in the hallway.

"You seriously let yourself get locked in a mausoleum?" Santana asked, smirking.

"Shut up," Quinn said, rolling her eyes, and then looking at Brittany. "How did you know to look for us?"

Brittany shrugged. "You weren't at school; I knew Rach wouldn't miss Glee. Not after giving us that big speech about how we can't miss it because we'll lose Regionals and go back to being picked on and laughed at."

"Aren't people still doing that anyway?" Santana asked.

"I just knew something was wrong," Brittany continued. "I would have found you sooner, but The Magick Shop is closed on Mondays and I needed some things to do the spell. Luckily, Miss Silver's coven meets there and she sold me the things I needed."

"Remind me to send her a 'thank you' card," Quinn replied.

"Miss Sylvester wants us there bright and early tomorrow," Rachel said, coming back into the living room. "She said we can have the night off, though."

Quinn stifled a yawn as she put her feet on the coffee table. "I would hope so. I haven't slept at all and I'm actually really sore from sitting on that concrete floor all day."

"I know what you mean," Rachel said, sitting down next to Quinn.

"Santana, will you bring up my Funny Girl DVD?" Rachel asked.

"What makes you think I have it?" Santana asked back, but Rachel just looked at her, and the vampire sighed. "Yeah, fine."

"I'll get it," Brittany said, giggling at her girlfriend.

Brittany walked off, leaving the three alone. Quinn was really too exhausted to say much of anything and Rachel seemed the same. She knew they should probably just go to bed, but while her body was tired, her mind was racing from the events of the day. She really thought today might be the last day of her life, and now that she was sitting on the couch, in the Berry house, it seemed a little surreal.

"Here it is," Brittany said, causing Quinn to jump slightly when it landed next to her.

"Santana, can you come to school tomorrow after it gets dark?" Quinn asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Why?" Santana asked.

"Because I want us all there," Quinn replied. "I realized today that I can't just sit back and wait for Shelby to make her next move. We need to figure out what she's doing before something like today happens again. We need to prepare and do the unexpected—we need to take the fight to her."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Rachel asked.

"I can't just wait around anymore, waiting for her to attack," Quinn said, shrugging. "I'm going to need everyone, and we're all going to need to be at the top of our game, which is why we need to train double what we are now."

Santana scoffed. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Quinn replied. "I know you've looked before, Rachel, but I need you to see if you can find anything else on Shelby. Maybe if we knew more about what she was like when she was human, we can figure out any weakness she might have."

Rachel nodded. "I can look, but I don't know if I will be able to find much. I can get my laptop and start now if you want."

"No," Quinn said, reaching out, and putting her hand over Rachel's. "Tonight we have the night off."

"Pizza's here!" Brittany said the moment the doorbell sounded.

"I've got it," Santana said, grabbing a twenty that Leroy had left for them on the hallway table

Rachel smiled at her and Quinn smiled back. Santana brought the pizza into the living room and opened the box, grabbing a slice, and settling into the loveseat. Brittany did the same and sat next to her girlfriend, while Rachel got up and popped the DVD in. Quinn grabbed two slices of the pizza and handed one to Rachel as she sat down. It was one of the first nights in a long time that she was able to sit down with her friends, watch a movie, and eat pizza, and even though she was exhausted, she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are always appreciated.<strong>


	19. The Stuff of Nightmares

**Devin Jaste: I do have it planned out; I wrote a little blurb for all 22 chapters before I ever wrote the first chapter. Then, before I write each chapter, I write an outline for it, detailing the main points of each section. I have certain chapters for the sequels planned as well. A few chapters and details have changed some along the way, but I've mostly stuck with the original plan.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19 – The Stuff of Nightmares<strong>

Something felt wrong. She couldn't even explain it; it was just a feeling, and this was the second night she had it. She paused, looking around, but nothing seemed out of place and the house was quiet. Maybe that's what was weird; her house was rarely quiet. Usually there was something going on—music playing, the television on downstairs, her little brother running around the house, the neighbor's dog barking—but tonight it was deathly silent. It was more than a little unnerving.

She tried to ignore the feeling as she walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. Her eyes had dark circles under them from the nightmares she'd had the previous night. She woke up in the middle of it and hadn't been able to fall asleep again. Turning on the faucet, she leaned down to splash some cold water on her face. Her eyes were closed as she blindly reached for a towel, straightening up as she dried her face.

"Nothing is wrong," she whispered to herself. "It is just your imagination."

When she lowered the towel, she looked at herself in the mirror again, but something moving in the corner caught her eyes. Dread filled her and she was almost too afraid to look. She turned her head, though, hoping it was only her imagination, but when her eyes looked to the corner, she let out a scream.

The thing in the corner let out a growl and came at her, but she ducked just in time. The thing's sharp claws barely missed her as she fell backwards. She turned onto her hands and knees and crawled away as she tried to get to her feet, but a sharp pain went through her back. It caused her to fall onto her stomach, but she didn't stop struggling. She kicked backwards, hitting the thing behind her, and finally made it to her feet.

She ran toward her open bedroom door and down the hall; every light in the house was on and the television was on, but no sound was coming from it. She wondered where her parents were and why they weren't in the living room as they usually were. She looked over her shoulder as she slammed into the front door; the thing was running after as she tried to turn the knob. She tried to pull the door open, but the chained stopped it. Her hands were shaking so badly that she fumbled several times as she tried to remove the chain.

Just as she finally got the door open, she was grabbed from behind; an arm was wrapped around her neck, nearly choking her, and she felt like she had been stabbed in the side. She tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. Before she knew it, she was thrown onto the steps, landing hard on her arm. She let out a sharp gasp as she put pressure on her wrist, trying to get back to her feet.

She tried to run again, but she couldn't seem to move faster than a slow jog, and she was struggling to even go that fast. Her vision was a little blurry and she thought she might pass out, but she was willing herself to keep going. She just needed a car to drive by or someone to come out of their—she just needed for someone to see her. But there were no cars on the road and every house on the street was dark

"Help me!" she screamed into the night air.

Or at least she tried to scream it; it really came out more of a strangled cry. She tried again, but for some reason she couldn't seem to make her voice work. Part of her knew it didn't matter, though; it felt like the whole world was empty at the moment and no one would hear her scream anyway.

She let out another silent cry when she was abruptly yanked to a stop. She tried to struggle free, but the grip was too tight, and she was having a hard enough time just trying to stand upright. Suddenly she was released and she fell to the ground. She rolled onto her back, not having the energy to do much else, and stared up at the thing above her.

"Please," she whispered.

She didn't know if it was her imagination, but the thing almost looked like it was smiling as it crouched down and raised its claw. That was the last thing she saw before the claw came toward her throat and she finally did let out a scream.

* * *

><p>"I think we should perform a duet," Rachel suddenly said.<p>

Quinn looked at Rachel. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Why?" Rachel asked. "We've never really sung together and I think it would be nice, especially with Regionals approaching."

"Because I know how you are about your performances," Quinn replied. "You want everything to be perfect and I'm not a perfect singer."

"Quinn, you have a lovely voice," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I think our voices would go perfectly together. Just one song; I won't even make us rehearse."

Quinn laughed and gave her a disbelieving look. "You always rehearse."

"Yes, but—you don't have to," Rachel said, pouting ever so slightly.

"I'll think about it," Quinn relented.

"Thank you," Rachel said, smiling widely as she leaned up, kissing Quinn's cheek.

The blonde smiled back, but the stares from several students in the hall caught her eye. She rolled her eyes at them and scowled, causing them to look away. She may not have been head Cheerio for a while, but everyone was still intimidated by her, and she was going to try to keep it that way. Especially with the way things had been lately; every time she and Rachel were affectionate with each other at all, they were gawked at. Luckily no one had said anything, but Quinn knew that was only because of her former status as the most popular girl at McKinley.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, looking a bit concerned.

"Fine," Quinn replied.

She could feel Rachel staring at her, but she ignored it, and stopped at her locker. She knew she just needed to get through this week and then she would have a week off for spring break. From school at least; she would still have all her Slayer duties, but maybe she would get a little bit more sleep. She didn't think she had looked forward to anything more in her life. With the stress of the past few months—especially after thinking she was going to die in a crypt only a few days before—she needed a little break.

"What are people whispering about?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," Quinn replied, not saying that they were probably whispering about them.

"There's Kurt," Rachel stated. "He will probably know."

"Did you hear?" Kurt asked only a few moments later.

"Hear what?" Rachel asked, sounding worried. "No one died, did they?"

"Suzy Pepper," Kurt said.

"Who is Suzy Pepper?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know," Kurt replied. "All I've heard is that she was sort of crazy and almost accidentally killed herself because of this huge crush she had on Mr. Schue."

"What happened to her?" Rachel asked.

"I heard she ate a pepper and it burned through her esophagus," Kurt replied. "She was supposedly in a coma for a week."

"Not then," Rachel replied. "Now."

"Oh—all I've heard is that her parents found her in the middle of the night," Kurt said, shrugging.

Rachel frowned. "You don't know what happened, though?"

"Why are you so interested in someone you don't know?" Kurt asked

"It's just terrible when anyone dies," Rachel said, glancing at Quinn. "Especially someone so young. I just wanted to know if it was an accident, natural causes, or if there was foul play."

"Knowing this town, she was probably killed and they'll never figure out who did it," Kurt remarked.

"I guess you guys have heard about the weird girl," Tina said, and Quinn turned her head to look at her.

"Do you know anything about it?" Rachel asked.

"I've heard a couple things," Tina said, frowning. "One person claimed she killed herself, but someone else said they know someone that works at the hospital and they heard she was nearly ripped apart."

"Definitely not natural causes, then," Rachel said.

"Maybe Mercedes knows something," Kurt said. "I'll keep you posted."

"What do you think it was?" Tina said, looking at Quinn.

The blonde shrugged. "What makes you think I would know?"

"Just wondering if you knew anything," Tina replied. "I need to go; I'm supposed to meet Artie in the library."

Quinn watched Tina go, wondering why she asked her that; the other girl had seen her in odd predicaments before, though, and she wondered if she was starting to figure things out.

"I wonder if anyone else knows anything," Rachel said, looking at her.

"We'll talk to Sue after school," Quinn stated. "Maybe she'll know."

"I think I'll talk to Artie later," Rachel said. "Maybe he will allow me to access the Medical Examiner's files again."

"Too bad the password was changed," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed. "I know."

"Maybe you should wait until tomorrow to ask him, though," Quinn said. "Let's see if Sue knows anything before we hack into confidential files."

"Alright," Rachel said, giving Quinn a smile. "That will free up lunch to rehearse for our duet."

"I told you I would think about it," Quinn stated.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't rehearse until you decide you would like to sing with your girlfriend," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed but found herself smiling nevertheless. She didn't like getting up in front of the Glee Club and singing, but she knew she would end up doing it for Rachel. She loved her and wanted her to be happy, so if doing a duet would make her happy, that's what she would do. That didn't mean she had to agree to it right away, though.

"Come on," Quinn said, entwining their fingers together. "I don't want to be late for class."

"We still have a few minutes," Rachel replied.

"Yes, but I would like to walk my girlfriend to class first," Quinn said, shutting her locker, and giving Rachel a smile.

Rachel smiled back. "In that case, I'm ready when you are."

* * *

><p>When Quinn walked into the training room at the end of the day, Puck and Brittany were already there, but Rachel wasn't. She frowned, wondering where the brunette was since she was usually the first one to the room. Knowing Rachel, she was probably tracking down Mr. Schue to talk about Regionals. She already did that once between fourth and fifth period, but Quinn figured maybe she thought of something else she wanted to discuss with him.<p>

"Have either of you seen Rachel?" Quinn asked.

Puck shrugged. "Nope."

"I saw her going to the choir room earlier," Brittany answered.

Quinn laughed lightly. "I almost feel sorry for Mr. Schue."

"The dude needs to just do what Berry says," Puck replied. "We all know there's no point in arguing with her; she's gonna get her way in the end anyway. Besides, my Jew knows what she's talking about and she wants to win; if he's smart, he'll listen. I know she can be annoying, but—"

"Puck," Quinn interrupted him, narrowing her eyes.

Puck held up his hands. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"Are you threatening Noah?"

Quinn looked over her shoulder at the sound of Rachel's voice and said, "No."

"Noah?" Rachel said, leaning to look at him.

"Uh—no," Puck said when Quinn turned back, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Brittany?" Rachel asked, clearly not believing either of them.

Brittany opened and closed her mouth several times, looking between the other three people in the room. She obviously didn't want to lie, but probably also didn't want Quinn to get in trouble.

"Fine, yes," Quinn said, taking pity on Brittany.

Rachel sighed. "Why are you threatening your friends?"

"Because he deserved it," Quinn said with a shrug. "And I didn't actually threaten him."

"It's true," Brittany chimed in. "Though she probably would have if you didn't come in."

"Thanks, Britt," Quinn sarcastically said, receiving a frown from Rachel.

Quinn ignored the look on Rachel's face and walked to the bench, sitting down on it. She didn't need a lecture from her girlfriend, but she didn't want to tell her that Puck had called her annoying, so she couldn't exactly say why she was threatening him—or about to threaten him. Brittany looked sheepish when she looked at her, probably knowing she shouldn't have said anything. She had been right, though; Quinn just wished she was a little more careful about what she said sometimes. Santana wasn't around to stop her anymore—not that Santana ever would have helped in this situation—though Brittany did seem to be a little better about censoring herself now. Most of the time, anyway.

"Where's Coach?" Brittany asked, sitting down on the mat.

"I was wondering the same," Rachel replied. "I wanted to discuss something with her before we began."

"Did you find anything else out?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "I've been discreetly asking around today, but no one seems to know very much. As far as I can tell, everything is just speculation."

"What are you talking about?" Puck asked.

"The girl that was killed," Quinn replied.

"I heard her throat was ripped out," Puck stated.

Brittany frowned. "I don't like that everyone's talking about her. They're all saying mean things and no one really cares that she died."

"You know how people are, Brittany," Rachel said, walking over, and sitting down next to her. "I don't like it either, but there isn't a lot you can do to change their behavior."

"It just makes me sad," Brittany said, sighing.

The door slammed and Sue asked, "Why are you four not training?"

"Quinn and I wanted to talk to you before we began our training," Rachel said, standing up. "I assume you have heard about the girl that was killed, and we wanted to know if you knew anything about it."

"Yeah," Quinn replied. "Am I looking for a demon?"

"I have heard what you've heard," Sue answered. "The police aren't telling anything, but from what I've been hearing from the inept faculty at this school, it sounds like it could be a demonic killing. I contacted the Council already; if they know anything, they'll get back with me. Until then, do your regular patrol, but keep a close watch for anything unusual."

Quinn nodded. "I'll see if Santana will go out tonight, too."

"Can I come?" Puck asked.

Quinn furrowed her brows. "You want to patrol graveyards with us?"

"Why not?" Puck replied.

"You just—haven't seemed all that interested in that side of the Slaying," Rachel answered.

"And you like to sleep," Brittany added. "A lot."

"Brittany's right," Rachel said. "Most nights we stay out until dawn."

Quinn watched as Puck's face fell; he obviously wanted to go with them, but she didn't know why. Rachel was right when she said he had never seemed very interested in patrolling. He had helped out on a few occasions, but he had never been involved with the day-to-day part of the Slaying. She was apprehensive about putting him in harm's way, but she also knew it would be good for him to get some field experience. She knew she was going to have to face Shelby soon and she could take all the help she could get when the time finally came. Leaning to fight was one thing, but actually coming face-to-face with a vampire that was doing its best to kill you was another matter. Maybe it would be better for that to happen now rather than when they were about to face Shelby.

"You can come if you want," Quinn finally said. "Just be at Rachel's house before the sun sets."

"Are you sure about that?" Rachel asked, looking concerned.

"Would you rather Shelby be the first vampire he fights?" Quinn asked.

"You have a very valid point," Rachel replied.

"He'll be okay if he's with us," Quinn said, kissing Rachel's temple. "Don't worry."

* * *

><p>The street was dark as he walked down it; he knew he shouldn't be out this late, but for some reason, he found himself out here. He couldn't even remember what was so important to keep him out here. He just needed to get home.<p>

As he passed by a couple, he kept his eyes on them; they looked normal, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up as if something was telling him to stay away from them. He jumped when the woman let out a loud laugh and quickened his pace. He wasn't far from his house now; he could even see the yellow house from where he was.

It was his mom's idea to paint the house yellow; his dad wanted white like all the other houses around, but his mom thought it was boring. In the end, she got her way, and his dad painted the house a pale yellow. At first he hated it—kids on the bus used to tease him about it—but he grew to like it. Now, when he saw the color, it brought comfort. He just wished the sight was bringing him comfort right now; instead of feeling comforted, though, he only felt dread.

Looking over his shoulder, he could barely see the couple now. They were the only people he had passed in a while, which was strange. There were no cars, no people walking their dogs—there was nothing. It wasn't like there were a lot of people out at night, but there was usually more than this.

The closer he got to the house, the stranger things became. All the lights were off even though his parents should be home. It wasn't late enough for them to be in bed and they wouldn't have gone anywhere without calling him to let him know since his mom was very overprotective of him. It was actually surprising that she hadn't called to ask where he was, and that thought made his feeling of dread even worse. What if something had happened to them and that's why the house was dark?

He's heard stories—people leaving their houses and never coming back, people mysteriously dying, people being attacked by unidentified animals—but he never really believed any of them. Sure there were a lot of people that seemed to die in Lima, but he had lived here his whole life, so it just seemed normal to him. His mom always warned him about this town, though; he often brushed it off, but he was beginning to feel as if she was right.

As he approached his house, he started walking faster. When he checked the doorknob, it turned easily, which made him worry even more since his parents always kept it locked. He quickly turned the knob and rushed into the house, turning the lights on as he went. Every room he went into was empty until the only room left was his bedroom. As he walked in, as with the rest of the house, it looked untouched. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, though, even if everything appeared to be fine. Looking around once more, he still couldn't find anything out of place, but the room still felt off; it felt as if something was there that didn't belong.

He walked to the window and looked out, wondering where his parents were—and everyone else for that matter. It wasn't very late, but every house on the street was dark. As he looked out, he saw a reflection in the window. Something had moved behind him and the feeling of fear was increasing.

As he started to turn around, something grabbed the back of his neck and pushed him forward. He hit the window and went crashing through it, rolling along the slopped roof beneath his bedroom window, before finally falling off and hitting the ground.

He felt like his skin was on fire from all the cuts and could feel the shards of glass still imbedded. He tried to move, but the pain in his leg was too much. He had landed directly on it and could only assume it was broken. He tried his best to crawl, but his hands were cut up from the glass, making it difficult. As he looked over his shoulder, he tried his best to move faster. He didn't know what the hell the thing was, but it was walking right for him with a smile on its face

* * *

><p>"Did you hear?" Kurt asked, popping up on Rachel's left side.<p>

Rachel jumped at the sudden appearance. "Hear what?"

"Someone else was killed," Kurt stated.

"What?" Rachel asked. "Who?"

"You know that guy in the Jazz Band with the floppy hair?" Kurt asked.

"The one that plays bass?" Rachel asked.

Kurt nodded. "Him."

"Are you serious?" Rachel asked, closing her locker, and leaning against it.

She had never actually spoken to him—she didn't even know his name—but he had been there since the Glee Club really became a group. He was always there with the other members of the Jazz Band and always seemed to know the songs Rachel wanted to sing. He always seemed so happy and she couldn't imagine not seeing him in the choir room ever again.

"What happened to him?" Rachel asked.

"It sounds like the same thing as yesterday," Kurt said, shrugging. "No one really seems to know, but there's a lot of speculation that he was found by his parents the same way as the other girl—ripped apart."

"That's so terrible," Rachel said, feeling a bit sick. "I can't imagine his parents finding him like that."

Her mind went back to the night Leroy had found Hiram dead in their driveway. He tried to shield her from seeing, but the glimpses of his bloodied, lifeless body still haunted her. She couldn't blame her father for shutting down after that; she often wanted to right after and she hadn't seen the worst of it. She was pretty sure the only reason she didn't completely shut down was Quinn. As unexpected as it had been, the blonde gave her something else to focus on—a reason to keep going. She gave her something to fight for.

"I have to find Quinn," Rachel said, pushing off her locker.

"But—" Kurt paused and didn't bother protesting further; he probably knew it was pointless.

Rachel headed straight for the training room. She knew Quinn was supposed to meet her Watcher there that morning, but she'd stayed home because her father had made breakfast. She wished her girlfriend could have stayed as well, but Quinn didn't want to make Sue mad by being late, which Rachel understood. Brittany, who had stayed over after a long night of patrolling, had driven her to school so Leroy didn't have to go out of his way before heading to work.

There was one Cheerio in the locker room and she gave her a look of contempt when she walked in. She didn't say anything to her as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the girl. She wasn't going to let the Cheerio intimidate her; after facing down vampires, a mean girl at school was no big deal. After a moment of staring at each other, the girl rolled her eyes, shut her locker, and brushed past Rachel. The brunette watched her walk away and then quickly looked around to make sure no one else was in the room. When she was satisfied that she was alone, she walked to the door, knocking on it.

"Why am I not surprised that you're here?" Quinn asked, laughing lightly as she opened the door.

"Did you hear about the other death?" Rachel asked, walking into the room.

"Sue's on the phone with the Council right now," Quinn said, nodding toward her Watcher. "I think they're talking about it."

Rachel nodded and watched as Sue paced around the room. She really hoped the Council had some useful information so they could stop this from happening to someone else.

"Who was it?" Quinn asked.

"The bass player in the Jazz Band," Rachel replied.

Quinn frowned. "Have you talked to Artie?"

"Not yet, but if Miss Sylvester doesn't find out anything, I'll find him first thing," Rachel answered.

Quinn nodded. "Good."

"That was the Council," Sue unnecessarily said when she ended the call.

"What did they tell you?" Quinn asked.

"Not a lot," Sue said, sighing. "Both victims died in their beds and the police haven't found any evidence of a break in." She sighed again. "Both were ripped apart, had broken bones; the one they discovered last night had injuries consistent with a fall"

"Wait," Rachel interrupted. "You said they died in their beds. How could he have fallen if he was in his bed? And why didn't their parents know anything was happening?"

"That's what I intend to find out," Sue stated. "Neither one of their parents had any idea that anything was wrong. The first victim was found in the middle of the night when her father woke up to go to the bathroom; he said something felt wrong, so he went to check on her. The second was found early last night; his mother said he fell asleep while studying, and when she went in to turn off his light that he had left on, she found him."

"That's horrible," Rachel said, feeling as if she was going to cry.

"Do they have any idea what did it?" Quinn asked, reaching out for Rachel's hand.

"As usual, the police are clueless," Sue answered. "The Watcher's Council says they don't have enough information to make a guess as to what's doing it."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Can't they give us a list of possible suspects?"

"They won't," Sue said, clearly unimpressed with the people she worked for. "They don't really like to be wrong, so until they can narrow it down, they'll never say anything."

"That's so stupid," Rachel blurted out.

"They have their ways of doing things," Sue said, her jaw clenching.

"We'll figure it out," Quinn said, squeezing her hand. "We always do."

"I know," Rachel sighed, "but it's frustrating sometimes."

"Meet me here after you two are done singing and dancing," Sue demanded.

Quinn nodded and tugged on Rachel's hand, leading her out of the room. As soon as they were in the locker room, though, Quinn turned and looked at her.

"See if Artie can find out anything else," Quinn instructed. "I know the Watcher's Council is supposed to be here to help, but I honestly don't know how much I trust them. Maybe he can find out something they're not telling."

"What do you want me to tell him if he starts asking why?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed and said, "Lie."

* * *

><p>"Why the hell didn't you bring Berry with you?" Santana asked for the third time in the past hour.<p>

"Do you really want to be the one doing research?" Quinn snapped.

Santana rolled her eyes. "No, but Britts and me could be doing other things right now."

"Doubtful," Quinn replied. "Haven't you noticed how sad Brittany is? She wants to figure out what's going on just as much as the rest of us—probably more."

"Which is why I was going to cheer her up," Santana replied.

Quinn scrunched her nose at the mental image she was getting. "Just keep looking."

"I am looking," Santana stated. "There's just nothing to see. I mean, what do you expect to find? Whatever we're looking for is killing people in their houses, not a cemetery."

"Do you have a better idea?" Quinn retorted. "We can't search every house in Lima, we have no idea what it is, we have no idea _where_ it is—I don't know what else to do, okay? I'm trying, though, because it's what I do. Besides, even if this thing isn't out here, there are still other things I can fight—other things I can stop from killing people. So, shut up and help me."

Santana scowled at her but continued walking beside her. She should probably just tell the vampire to go home, but she was used to having someone with her nearly every night; it made the time pass much quicker. She would rather have Rachel with her, but she was the best out of all of them at doing research, so she thought it would be a better idea to have her do that. Brittany had enthusiastically volunteered to help Rachel, so that meant taking Santana on patrol if she was going to have someone. She also had the option of calling Puck, but he had been worn out the previous night from being up all night, so she had a feeling he would decline.

"I still don't see why you had to drag my ass out here," Santana continued. "Aren't Slayers supposed to be able to—"

Quinn whipped her head around when Santana let out a very girl shriek, looking just in time to see the vampire fall into an open grave. She had to stifle her laughter as she walked to the edge and peered down. Santana was lying on her back with bits of dirt all over her, and she was glaring up at her.

"Maybe you should do less complaining and watch where you're going," Quinn said, grinning.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Bite me."

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Quinn joked. "Oh wait—you can't."

"One of these days," Santana mumbled.

"You'll do what?" Quinn asked.

"Help me out of this damn hole!" Santana demanded.

Quinn sighed a kneeled down, reaching for Santana. The vampire grasped her hand and Quinn yanked her up as far as she could; Santana did the rest of the work, grasping at the grass on the ground, and pulling herself out.

"Who the hell just digs these fucking things and then leaves them open?" Santana grumbled.

"Who doesn't pay attention while walking through a graveyard?" Quinn countered.

Santana narrowed her eyes, but Quinn just laughed. She knew the vampire couldn't do anything to her, and even if she could, Quinn didn't think she would. She was all talk just as she'd always been.

Santana suddenly smirked. "On second thought, I think I'll let that other vampire kick your ass."

Quinn frowned. "What."

She had been distracted by Santana and didn't see the vampire that must have been standing behind her until it grabbed her from behind. She threw her head back, hitting the vampire in the face, and then grabbed its arm, using her momentum to flip the vampire over her shoulder. He kicked her in the stomach, knocking her back, and causing her to feel like she couldn't breathe for a moment. While she was struggling to catch her breath, the vampire came at her again, but she rolled out of the way in time. Instead of landing on her, the vampire landed on the ground, and Quinn reached into her bag for a stake. She finally grabbed ahold of one after several tries and brought it down into the vampire's back.

"Thanks for the help," Quinn sarcastically said to Santana as the vampire exploded.

"You're welcome," Santana replied.

"Can you at least warn me when a vampire's around?" Quinn asked. "A vampire that's not you."

"I thought I did," Santana said, shrugging.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Two seconds before it attacks me is not a warning."

"Be nicer to me and you might get a five second warning." Santana shrugged.

Quinn rolled her eyes again; Santana was definitely as she had always been. She still wondered why that was, but she tried not to question it too much. When she did, she began to wonder if it was all some sort of trick. She didn't want to think that Santana may be there on Shelby's orders; she wanted to believe that Santana wasn't lying about it all.

"I have a question," Quinn said, glancing at the vampire. "That sketchbook I found in your room last year—was it yours or Brittany's?"

"What the hell does this have to do with anything?" Santana asked.

"You said it was Brittany's, but I didn't believe you," Quinn added.

"You know, Q, you really need to work on your segues," Santana remarked. "Or at least explain where the hell you're going with this."

"I want to know if you can draw," Quinn explained. "I want to know what Shelby looks like and you're the only one that's seen her."

She didn't know how much it would help, but she realized she was tired of not knowing who she was going to have to face. She wanted to see her—she wanted to see the vampire who had a very real chance of ending her life.

* * *

><p>Rachel slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head from the book she had apparently fallen asleep on. As she looked around, though, she frowned; the last thing she remembered was being in the basement, but she was now at her desk, in her room. When she looked down at the book, she realized it was her chemistry book, which was definitely not what she had been reading.<p>

She stood, stretching, and looked at the clock on her nightstand, but the clock was flashing as if the power had been out at some point. She wondered if Quinn was home yet; she didn't know the time, but it was still dark out, so she guessed her girlfriend was probably still out. She walked to the door, though, and into the hall, figuring she would check anyway. Quinn would sometimes come home early if it was a slow night, and Rachel hoped this was one of those nights.

She walked to Quinn's door and pushed it open, but the room was empty. She sighed and headed for the basement, thinking that Brittany would surely be down there. She had been practically living there lately, and Rachel couldn't imagine her leaving in the middle of the night. When she opened the basement door, the room was dark, so she tried to turn the light on at the top of the stairs, but nothing happened.

"Brittany?" she called.

Something felt wrong and she suddenly became worried that something had happened to Brittany. She took a step down but stopped; she needed to find a flashlight first, so she turned to go back to her room. She kept several in the bag under her bed, where she kept her supplies for patrolling.

She walked through the hall, toward the stairs; the moment her foot touched the bottom step, she thought she heard something move behind her. Her heart rate sped up and she was filled with dread, almost too afraid to turn around. Instead of turning, though, she ran for the front door. She knew it might be a terrible idea to go out there unprotected, but it seemed like an even worse idea to stay in the house.

The door was unlocked and she was turning the knob when she looked over her shoulder. She really wished she didn't, though, because she saw the thing that was behind her. The demon raised its sharp claws, and she put her arm up, screaming when the claws ripped into her arm.

"Rachel?"

Rachel cradled her arm with her uninjured one for a moment, but then reached out to grab a bat her father kept by the door. She swung at the demon, missing the first time, but swung again, hitting the demon in the arm. It didn't seem to effect the demon at all, but Rachel didn't stop trying to hit it.

"Rach?"

The brunette looked up upon hearing the voice again and everything in front of her dissolved. When she opened her eyes again, she was in the brightly lit basement and Brittany was staring at her.

"What happened?" Rachel asked.

"I think you fell asleep," Brittany replied. "I think San and Quinn just came home." Brittany frowned. "Are you okay? You look super pale."

"I think so," Rachel answered just as the basement door opened.

She heard their footsteps coming down, and when she looked up, Quinn was scowling while Santana had a smirk on her face. She wondered what the vampire had done to make her girlfriend look like that, but it was no telling with Santana.

"Hey," Quinn said upon seeing them. "Did you guys find out anything?"

Brittany shook her head. "I did find this really gross demon that—"

"Oh my god!" Quinn interrupted. "What happened?"

Rachel looked confusedly at Quinn as she walked toward her. When the blonde grabbed her arm, Rachel looked down and gasped.

"Rach!" Brittany said, jumping up, and rushing to her side.

There was blooding dripping down her arm from five gashes going across her arm. She felt a little woozy when she looked at it, so she quickly looked away.

"Come on," Quinn said, helping her up.

She let Quinn lead her up the stairs, through the first floor, and up to her room, where she took her to the bathroom. Quinn had her sit down on the closed toilet and then turned, opened one of the drawers, and grabbed a washcloth. Quinn glanced at her as she ran water over the washcloth; after a moment, she turned the water off, and kneeled in front of Rachel. She held Rachel's arm with one hand while she gently dabbed at the blood in the washcloth.

"I think you might need stitches," Quinn stated. "It looks really deep."

"I'll be okay," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Rachel, what happened?" Quinn softly asked.

"I-I think I found out how everyone died," Rachel replied.

* * *

><p>Quinn and Rachel were silently sitting side by side in the training room while Brittany sat on the floor, next to the bench; Rachel was tapping her fingers on the bench and Quinn was watching her do it. She couldn't help but notice how tired the brunette looked, but she was too afraid to let Rachel fall asleep again. Even though she and Santana were only coming back to check how the research was going, after Rachel told her about the dream and her theory, she stayed home. She stayed up the rest of the night, helping Rachel and Brittany with research, and watching the brunette to make sure she was awake.<p>

"Is that her?" Rachel asked, looking toward the door.

"It sounds like practice is definitely over," Quinn remarked.

She listened to the voices of all the Cheerios coming into the locker room after Saturday practice and knew Sue would be in soon. Her former coach always waited until everyone else was off the field, so she could berate them all as they walked into the school.

Quinn glanced down at Rachel's bandage and asked, "How is your arm?"

"It still hurts," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed. "I still think we should take you to the emergency room."

"I'll be okay," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Are you sure?" Brittany asked.

Rachel nodded. "I'm sure."

Both Quinn and Brittany tried to get her to go for hours, but she refused. Quinn even thought about calling an ambulance, so she would have no choice but to get medical attention, but they eventually came to a compromise. If it didn't get any better by the next day, Rachel would go. Quinn really didn't want to wait that long—the gashes were pretty deep and she really thought she might need stitches—but Rachel was being stubborn, so she didn't have much choice.

As soon as the door opened, Rachel was on her feet. Sue shut the door, seemingly oblivious to them, so Rachel cleared her throat, but the woman still didn't look their way. The brunette cleared her throat again, and this time, Sue sighed, finally looking up at her. Quinn noticed her Watcher looked awfully tired, too, and wondered what she was doing that kept her up late. Then she realized that maybe she was also trying to figure out what had been killing everyone.

"What is it?" Sue asked. "I'm tired and I want a nap, so unless this is important—"

"It is," Rachel interrupted.

Sue looked at Quinn. "What is it?"

"We think we know what's killed everyone," Quinn stated. "Well, we sort of know. Last night Rachel had a dream; there was a demon in it and it attacked her. She woke up in the middle of the dream because of Brittany, and—" Quinn sighed and looked at Rachel. "Show her."

She watched as Rachel carefully removed the bandage that was covering most of her forearm. Sue walked over to her and took her wrist, lifting her arm to get a better look.

"In the dream, the demon cut her with its claws exactly where she had that when she woke up," Quinn continued. "We think people are being killed in the dreams, and everything that happens, is happening to them in real life. Brittany said there was no sign that anything was wrong; Rachel didn't move or make any sound, which is probably why none of their parents knew anything had happened until they found them dead."

"What did it look like?" Sue asked Rachel.

"It was pale and kind of scaly," Rachel replied. "It was big, had sharp teeth, sharp claws—its eyes were this greenish-yellow color, and I know it sounds weird, but it was like the demon was smiling when it hurt me."

"I actually know of a demon that hunts people in dreams and what you're describing sounds like it," Sue stated. "It feeds off fear, though; I've never heard of it actually killing anyone."

"Maybe it decided killing people is more fun," Quinn replied.

"Possibly," Sue agreed. "I have read about demons getting sort of desensitized in a way and have to up what they do."

"How do we kill it?" Quinn asked. "I mean, how do you kill something in dreams?"

"The same way it has been killing," Sue replied, walking over to the bookcase, and grabbing a book, which she handed to Rachel. "It's in there; it's called a Kighyl."

"So, how do I get it to come into my dream?" Quinn asked, watching as Rachel quickly flipped through the book, eventually stopping on a page.

"Miss Sylvester is correct," Rachel stated. "The only way to kill the Kighyl is by killing it where it resides."

"What else does it say?" Sue asked.

"Nothing that will help," Rachel replied.

Sue scowled and said, "Maybe you can find out more on the demon. In the meantime, I'll contact the Council and see if there's anything they can do."

"I think I know how to get Quinn inside the dream, but we have to figure out who it's going after before it'll work," Brittany chimed in. "I know a spell."

"Well, maybe we can figure out a pattern and discover who the demon is going after next," Quinn said. "I mean, what did you and the other two have in common?"

"None of us were very popular," Rachel replied.

Brittany frowned. "That's not true; you have a lot of friends."

"We were all students at this school," Rachel continued. "Other than that, I don't really know."

"Had you ever talked to—what was the first girl's name?" Quinn asked.

"Suzy," Brittany answered.

Rachel shook her head. "I have no idea who she even is."

"Maybe there is no pattern," Brittany stated.

"We better hope there is," Quinn replied. "If not, I have no idea how we will find the demon. It'll just keep killing people, and I'll have no way of knowing who's next."

"We'll figure it out," Rachel said, looking into her eyes. "I promise."

Quinn sighed. "I hope so."

* * *

><p>"I have good news and bad news," Rachel announced.<p>

"What's the good news?" Quinn asked.

"I know who the demon is going to come after tonight," Rachel answered.

"And the bad news?" Quinn asked, feeling a little apprehensive.

"It is coming after me," Rachel stated.

"What?" Quinn asked, standing up, and walking over to Rachel. "How do you know?"

"I found some information on this website," Rachel replied. "It wasn't very difficult now that I know the name of the demon. It says the Kighyl will continue hunting the same person night after night because the longer it hunts one person, the more their fear grows. I'm guessing now the demon will go after a person until it has successfully killed them. That means it will try to kill me again tonight."

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked.

"Fairly sure," Rachel replied. "Obviously I am not completely sure, though; since the demon has changed the way it does things, it's really just my assumption, but I have a pretty good feeling about it."

Quinn sighed. "I was really hoping you would say you weren't sure."

"At least now we know where the demon will be tonight," Rachel said, smiling at her.

"I'm sort of wishing we didn't," Quinn replied.

"I have complete faith in you, Quinn," Rachel said, turning in her chair so that she was facing Quinn. "I know you won't let anything happen to me."

"Let's hope," Quinn said, putting her hand on Rachel's cheek.

Rachel buried her hand in Quinn's t-shirt and pulled her forward. Quinn wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck and ducked down, bring their lips together. With the last few days being as hectic as they had been, it felt like it had been forever since they last kissed or had a moment to themselves.

Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if they lived a normal life, if they only had school and Glee to worry about. Of course, without the Slaying, things would probably be like they were before Rachel found out her secret. Realistically, if her life hadn't changed so dramatically, she knew she would probably still be a bitch to Rachel, and would never have discovered what an amazing person she is.

"Gross."

Quinn and Rachel pulled apart at the sound of Santana's voice. Quinn hadn't heard her and Brittany coming down the stairs, but they were both standing at the bottom watching them. Santana had a disgusted look on her face, but Brittany looked happy, and nudged the vampire when she saw the look on her face.

"Sorry," Brittany said, coming further into the room. "We didn't know you were down here. We can go if you want to be alone."

Santana scoffed. "It's my room."

"It's my house," Rachel replied.

"It's your dad's house," Santana countered.

"Be that as it may, it's more my house than it is yours, so be nice to us," Rachel said back before looking at Brittany. "Do you have everything you need to also put me to sleep?"

Brittany nodded. "I can use the same things I'm using for Quinn."

"Good, because the demon is coming after me again," Rachel informed them. "I think we need to put me to sleep and then cast the spell on Quinn that you were already going to do."

The original plan was to have Quinn enter the dream world and allow her to go between people dreams looking for the demon, but now that they knew where it was going to be, she only needed to go into one person's dream. She really wished there was a way to bring the demon into her own dream, but they had already discussed it, and Brittany had no idea how to do that type of spell.

"I need to make a few changes to the spell for you, but it should be easy," Brittany replied. "We can start whenever you are ready."

"I'm ready when Quinn is," Rachel said.

"Are you sure about this?" Quinn asked, looking down at Rachel.

"I trust you, Quinn," Rachel stated. "You will kill this demon just as you have every other you have been faced with. I know I will be completely fine."

Quinn sighed as she said, "Alright, let's do this."

"Santana, can you clear the floor," Brittany instructed as she pulled out a book, and began marking things out. "I'll do the spell to put Rachel to sleep first and then I will do the one on you, Quinn. I need to do it quickly, though, so Rach isn't in there alone for long."

"I really don't like that Rachel is basically going to be bait," Quinn said, sighing.

"I can't say I'm a huge fan of the idea, either, but there isn't really anything we can do about it," Rachel said, squeezing Quinn's side.

"Can you at least dream about a gigantic sword?" Quinn joked.

Rachel smiled. "I can try."

"I really hate this plan," Quinn stated.

"I know you do," Rachel replied.

"San and I will be watching Rachel the whole time," Brittany said to Quinn. "I can break the spell and wake her up if we see anything bad happening."

Quinn nodded. "I know."

As soon as Santana was done clearing the area, Brittany knelt down and drew a large circle on the floor. She then walked over to her bag and pulled out a bunch of candles, which she placed along the circle. One by one, she lit them, and then grabbed some more things out of her bag. Quinn watched as she put the things into a satchel and then walked over, handing it to Rachel.

"Put that around your neck and stand in the circle," she said.

"What's in here?" Rachel asked.

"Jasmine, an amethyst, and a few other things," Brittany replied.

"Are you sure about this?" Quinn asked as she watched Rachel walk into the circle.

"I'll see you in a few minutes," Rachel said, giving her a soft smile.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready?" Brittany asked.<p>

"Yes," Quinn replied, taking Rachel's hand. "Please hurry."

She didn't like the idea of Rachel being alone in her dreams and wanted to get in there as fast as possible. From Rachel what had said about her previous dream, though, the demon didn't show up immediately, so she took a little comfort in that fact. Still, though, she needed to get in there quickly.

Quinn closed her eyes as Brittany began chanting again in what she assumed was Latin. The spell had put Rachel to sleep about a minute prior and Quinn hoped she was okay; there was no visible sign that anything was wrong, though. She just hoped she made it into her dream quick enough, so it would stay that way.

It didn't take long for Quinn to feel like she was falling and a light flashed before her eyes. She was having trouble hearing; Brittany sounded muffled until she couldn't hear her at all. She opened her eyes, wondering what was going on, and saw that she was in the basement, but Rachel, Santana, and Brittany were all gone, and it was now dark. As first she was confused, but then she realized the spell must have worked and she was in the house in Rachel's dream.

She quickly jumped up and sprinted up the stairs, pausing at the door. She peeked around the corner, but the kitchen seemed empty, so she quietly walked toward the stairs to the second floor. The house looked just like the Berry's house, but it seemed creepier somehow. It was giving her a feeling of unease that she couldn't quite explain, but she figured maybe that was the demon's doing since he generally fed off people's fear.

The closer she got to the stairs, the more she realized she was hearing something going on upstairs. At first she had thought it was her imagination, but now she could hear it more clearly and it sounded as if Rachel was in trouble. Abandoning all hope of being stealthy, she started taking the stairs two a time and ran down the hall to Rachel's room, where she could see light coming from beneath the door. She threw the door open, expecting to find Rachel struggling with the demon, but what she actually saw made her pause with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide.

What she thought was sounds of distress was actually her—or dream Quinn—in bed with Rachel. Neither of them seemed to notice her standing in the doorway as Rachel writhed on top of Quinn. This was not what she had expected to see when she came into Rachel's dream, and the sight of it made her blush. Sure she'd had these types of dreams before—all involved Rachel—but it never really crossed her mind that her girlfriend also had them.

She was about to turn around since she felt it was a little creepy to watch herself having sex with Rachel when everything suddenly vanished and the room went dark. She blinked at the sudden shift and leaned back, looking down the hall. She could see a light coming from somewhere downstairs—a light that previously wasn't on—so she began walking back the way she came. When she was almost to the top of the stairs, there was a scream from downstairs, so she hurried the rest of the way down. She almost tripped over the rug in the hall as she ran into the living room, where the demon was standing in front of Rachel.

Quinn dove at the Kighyl, sending them both into the coffee table, breaking it into pieces. She wasted no time picking up one of the legs of the table and hit the demon in the face, sending him flying backwards. He quickly stood up, swiping at Quinn with one of its claws, barely missing her. She swung several more times, hitting the demon in the torso and face, and then swinging the table leg up, connecting with its chin. The demon landed hard on its back and Quinn walked over, looking down on it.

"You shouldn't have started killing people," Quinn stated before driving the table leg into the Kighyl's chest. "Really, I never would have known to come kill you if you hadn't messed with my girlfriend."

The demon moved for a few moments as its orange colored blood seeped onto the rug. Quinn looked around to make sure Rachel was okay, but the brunette seemed perfectly fine as she walked toward Quinn.

"I'm really glad this is all just a dream," Quinn said, looking around at the destroyed coffee table and rug.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked.

"Can you wake up?" Quinn asked.

Rachel frowned. "What do you mean?"

Rachel clearly had no idea this was a dream, which made sense because people in dreams didn't generally know they were dreaming. So, Quinn just smiled and said, "Nothing."

Quinn turned around, walked to the couch, and sat down. Now that she was in the dream, she had no idea how to get out of it. Sooner or later, though, she knew Brittany or Santana would pull them both out of the dream; so, until then, she would sit there and wait for that to happen.

* * *

><p>Quinn glanced at Rachel as she typed away on her laptop. She was lying on her stomach and had her feet in the air, swinging them back and forth. She was working on a paper for one of her classes—Quinn failed to hear which one—and Quinn was supposed to be doing homework as well, but she was finding it difficult to concentrate.<p>

"I think I'm going to go to my room," Quinn finally said.

"What?" Rachel asked, looking over her shoulder. "Why? Is the typing distracting you? I can be quieter if you need me to be."

"No, nothing like that," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Then what?" Rachel asked, sitting up. "What's wrong?"

Quinn laughed lightly. "Nothing's wrong, Rachel; I can just study better in my room."

Quinn picked up her book and gave Rachel's cheek a kiss as she got off the bed. She started walking out of the room when she heard Rachel begin protesting again, but she continued on.

"But you've always studied in here," Rachel called after her.

"That doesn't mean I always have to," Quinn called back as she walked down the hall.

She walked into her room, leaving the door open since she figured it was only a matter of time before Rachel came in. As she sat on her bed, she heard Rachel's footsteps already coming her way, and she had to laugh at how well she knew the brunette.

"Quinn," Rachel said, stopping in the doorway, and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes?" Quinn asked, looking up.

"Will you explain to me why you don't want to be around me right now?" Rachel asked, a slight pout on her face.

Quinn sighed and put aside her book. "You know it's not that I don't want to be around you."

"Then why don't you explain it to me?" Rachel asked. "I mean, what else am I supposed to think? We always study and do our homework together, but today you don't want to. I can't help thinking I did something wrong. Are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you," Quinn said, laughing.

Rachel huffed. "Then tell me."

"Okay," Quinn said, sighing again. "Yesterday, do you remember anything that happened in your dream before I came into it?"

Rachel frowned, looking confused. "No—I barely remember you fighting the demon."

"Well, when I went into the dream—I sort of walked in on us," Quinn said, looking at Rachel to see if she knew what she was trying to say, but she still looked confused. "You were—having a sex dream. With me. I walked in on us having sex."

"I—oh." Rachel closed her eyes and looked embarrassed.

"Yes, so, when I'm in you room, that's what I keep thinking about," Quinn explained. "I keep remembering what I saw and it's very distracting, which makes it difficult to concentrate on doing homework."

"Well, it's only natural to have those types of dreams sometimes," Rachel said, looking away.

"I didn't say it wasn't," Quinn said softly. "I'm just saying thinking about it is distracting me from my homework, which is due tomorrow, so I really need to get it done."

"Would it be okay if I joined you in here, then?" Rachel asked.

Quinn smiled. "Yeah, that should be okay."

"I'll be right back with my laptop," Rachel said, turning on her heel, and walking out of the room.

Rachel was back less than a minute later and sat down on the bed. She was sitting much further away than they were in the brunette's room, so Quinn took her arm, and pulled her closer. Rachel gave her a smile and they both went back to doing their homework. Quinn was only through two pages, though, when she noticed the other girl was no longer typing, so she looked over at her.

"Can I ask you something?" Rachel said before Quinn could even ask why she was staring.

"Sure," Quinn replied.

"Do you ever have dreams about me?" Rachel asked. "I mean, you know—like what you saw."

"From time to time," Quinn replied.

"Oh," Rachel said, nodding. "Do you—we've never really discussed this before, and I—"

"Rachel," Quinn interrupted her, placing her hand over Rachel's. "You don't have to be so nervous."

Rachel sighed. "I know; I've just never really talked to anyone about this before, and—it is a little embarrassing." She let out a laugh and shook her head. "I guess what I wanted to know is if you think about it—being with me. And I don't just mean dreaming about it; I mean if you think about actually being with me."

"I have thought about it," Quinn said honestly.

"And?" Rachel asked.

"And I think we'll both know when we're ready," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Okay," Rachel replied.

Quinn smiled at her girlfriend and looked back at her book while Rachel went back to her laptop.

"Will you let me know when you're ready?" Rachel asked, still looking at the screen.

Quinn bit her lip as she smiled to herself. "Yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>Three chapters left.<strong>


	20. Into Thin Air

**First off, I apologize for the mistakes in the last chapter. I completely forgot my girlfriend didn't edit it before I posted it and didn't realize it for several days.**

**Ebony Hunter: That was part of the inspiration for the chapter, actually.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20 – Into Thin Air<strong>

"Finn, you're turning too late," Rachel said, sighing. "It's throwing everyone else off."

"Why don't you just put me at the end where no one will see me," Finn said, throwing his hands up. "We all know I can't dance."

"Yes, we know," Kurt remarked.

"You know we can't put you at the end," Rachel replied. "You are heavily featured during this part of the song, so you need to be in the middle because people do need to see you. You just need to work on this every spare moment you have. Regionals are in less than four days and we all need to focus on the competition. We should even be singing and dancing in our sleep."

Quinn looked around the room; everyone looked exhausted and she knew it was probably time to try to get Rachel to let them leave. They had been rehearsing for nearly three hours, not to mention the hour before school and the thirty minutes at lunch. Sue wasn't happy that all training had been put on hold for the week, but Rachel was insisting that they needed to rehearse as much as possible, and she wasn't wrong. Despite being in Glee all year, Finn's dancing wasn't improving and several others were not much better. She knew people were trying, but she was starting to wonder if they even had a chance; she wasn't going to let Rachel know that, though, because she didn't want to crush her girlfriend's dreams of going to Nationals.

"Rach," she softly said.

"What?" the brunette asked, turning to look at her.

Quinn nodded to the other side of the room and started walking, hoping the other girl would follow her. She didn't, though, so when Quinn stopped and turned around, she cocked her eyebrow and stared at the brunette. Rachel looked reluctant to go over, but she eventually put her hands on her hips and walked over to join Quinn.

"I think we should continue," Rachel stated before Quinn could even say anything.

"Well, I don't," Quinn replied. "Look at everyone; they're exhausted.

"Our competition isn't resting and I don't think we should, either," Rachel said.

"I know how much you want to win, but I actually think Finn is getting worse at this point," Quinn said, putting her hands on Rachel's upper arms. "We're not Vocal Adrenaline; everyone is just going to get annoyed and sloppy if you overwork them."

Rachel sighed. "I just want us to win."

"I know," Quinn said softly.

"I want to show this school that they're wrong about us—about me," Rachel continued.

"I know," Quinn repeated.

"I guess we have been here for over twelve hours, though, and people would probably like to go home," Rachel said with a sigh. "And it will be getting dark soon, which won't be very safe. Plus, it is dinnertime, and since I made everyone miss lunch, they are probably hungry."

Quinn smiled. "Probably."

"Okay, everyone, I think we should call it a night," Rachel said, raising her voice to be heard over everyone else. "Get a good night's rest and please be ready to work extra hard tomorrow."

"Do we need to be here early like this morning?" Mike asked.

"Dude, don't remind her," Puck said, scowling.

Rachel shook her head. "No, but I would like us to stay even later tomorrow evening to make up for the time lost."

Most people groaned, so Quinn said, "Listen, I know no one wants to do this, but I also know everyone wants to win, and if we're going to even have a chance, we need to listen to Rachel. It's only a few more days; we just need to make it through them and work as hard as we can."

"They're right," Kurt chimed in, though it looked like it pained him to say it. "We haven't come this far to lose now, which means we need to prepare. We know the songs and we know the routine—most of us, anyway—but now we need to make sure we're polished. Right now, we're completely out of sync, and it's so bad that even a blind judge would notice."

"Maybe we should be here in the morning," Tina said.

"I'd rather be sleeping," Artie said, shaking his head.

"How about whoever wants to come here in the morning, comes," Rachel suggested.

"What good's that gonna do?" Puck asked.

"Well, it can't hurt, can it?" Rachel replied.

"I can be here," Mike said.

"Me too," Brittany added.

Mike smiled at the blonde. "We can help anyone that comes by."

"Wonderful," Rachel said, smiling at the two. "Anyone who wants to get in some extra practice in the morning, just come to the choir room. Otherwise, I will see the rest of you after school. Oh, and make sure you come straight here after the final bell; I don't want to waste any time waiting on people to arrive."

Everyone quickly gathered up their things and made their way out of the room. Quinn stretched her arms and looked at the time before she walked over to grab her bag.

"I'll see you in the morning," Finn mumbled as he passed by her and Rachel.

"Do we need to go to the training room?" Rachel asked after looking around for anyone loitering near them.

Quinn shook her head.

"Okay, do you want to go home or would you rather we go directly to patrolling?" Rachel asked.

"Neither," Quinn replied. "I have other plans for tonight."

Rachel frowned. "What plans?"

"You'll see," Quinn said, smiling.

* * *

><p>"Quinn, are you ever going to inform me where we are going?" Rachel asked.<p>

"I told you, you'll see," Quinn replied

Rachel huffed. "I hate surprises.

"You love surprises," Quinn argued.

"You don't know that," Rachel said with a slight scowl.

Quinn laughed and reached over to take the other girl's hand. "We're almost there, okay? Just be patient for a little longer; I promise you will like where we are going."

Quinn put on her turn signal and turned right, following the directions she had memorized the previous night. She really should have gotten Rachel out of the school earlier, but she had to wait for the brunette to be willing to leave. Now, Quinn was rushing to get them there on time, but she wanted to surprise Rachel, so she couldn't just tell her to get them out sooner.

They hadn't been on a date in far too long, and Quinn needed to change that. So, when she overheard Kurt talking about it with Mercedes, she knew she had to take Rachel.

Rachel gasped. "Quinn!"

"Yes?" Quinn asked, smiling.

"Is that where we're going?" she asked.

Quinn nodded as she pulled into the nearest parking spot, and it was a good thing they were stopped because Rachel's arms were immediately around her.

"You're amazing," Rachel said, kissing Quinn's cheek.

Quinn smiled. "I know it's not Broadway—"

"You're still amazing," Rachel interrupted. "Broadway or not, Wicked is still Wicked, and I'm going to enjoy it immensely."

Rachel looked happier than she thought she'd ever seen her, and Quinn knew she had definitely done the right thing. She felt guilty about taking the night off from everything, but at the same time, she thought they deserved it. The last few months—and especially the last couple weeks—had been incredibly stressful, and it was really taking its toll on them. Between the Slaying, the researching, and Glee, she thought they both needed and deserved one night off.

"I've been looking for an excuse to take a night off, and when I overheard Kurt talking about it, I knew it would be perfect," Quinn explained. "You've been talking about this musical for as long as I've known you; I figured it was time we see it together." Quinn put opened her door. "If we want to grab a bite to eat, we need to hurry."

"Why didn't you just tell me we needed to end rehearsals early?" Rachel asked, following Quinn out of the car.

Quinn laughed as she shut her door. "Because you would ask where we were going and refuse to leave until I told you, which would have ruined the surprise."

"You might be correct about that," Rachel conceded.

"I know I'm correct about it," Quinn replied with a light laugh. "I had to wait until everyone else was ready to go, so you would be willing to go, too."

"Sneaky," Rachel said, nudging her.

Quinn shrugged. "I try."

"So, how long do we have to get dinner?" Rachel asked.

"Not long," Quinn said, pulling her phone out to look at the time. "There's a place just around the corner, though, so we should have just enough time."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Rachel said, holding out her hand.

Quinn took Rachel's hand and turned, pulling her in the right direction. An older couple passed them as they walked by and the woman frowned at their conjoined hands. Quinn just raised her eyebrow at her and looked away, ignoring her. It wasn't the first time they'd gotten a less than positive reaction; it actually happened nearly every time they showed any sort of affection for each other in public. It bothered Quinn less than she thought it would, though; her feelings for Rachel outweighed everything else. She used to care so much what people thought about her, but being with Rachel changed that. It put things into perspective for her, and she realized that she would rather hold onto any bit of happiness that she found than do things just for other people's approval and happiness.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

Quinn hummed as she looked at the brunette. "Couldn't be better."

"I don't believe that," Rachel said, tilting her head.

"Well, you should," Quinn said with a smile.

"I just mean that you've been under a lot of stress lately," Rachel replied.

"I guess I'm just used to it." Quinn shrugged. "It's always been that way for me. Now it's the slaying instead of worrying about my parents and cheerleading and being popular."

"I would think worrying about the fact that you might die would be a little more stressful than worrying about being popular," Rachel said, laughing lightly.

Quinn smiled. "You underestimate how seriously I took being popular." Quinn laughed. "Okay, so it is a little more stressful, but it doesn't change the fact that I am happy at the moment."

"You're happy, huh?" Rachel said, smiling.

"Very," Quinn replied, giving Rachel's cheek a quick kiss. "You know—as long as I ignore the fact that Regionals are in only a few days and we're nowhere near ready, and that there's a super powerful vampire out there that could come after me at any moment. I'm ignoring all of that tonight, though; I want to enjoy this without worrying about what's going to happen when we go back to Lima tonight."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Rachel said, resting her head on Quinn's shoulder. "We won't worry about anything tonight; we will simply focus on the moment, not what comes after."

"Sounds like a plan," Quinn said, wrapping her arm around Rachel's shoulder, and kissing the top of her head.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we're late," Rachel said for the tenth time that morning.<p>

"We're not late," Quinn replied yet again. "This rehearsal wasn't mandatory, so you can't possibly be late for it."

"We can and we are," Rachel said, huffing. "I'm the captain; it looks bad if I'm not there while trying to get others to give their all. There will probably be a mutiny now; no one will listen to anything I say, and someone else will try to take over as captain."

"No, they won't," Quinn said, laughing lightly. "For one, no one else actually wants to be captain, and you know they will still listen to you. Everyone wants to go to Nationals, and everyone knows you're going to be the one to get us there. It would be stupid for people to slack off now when we're so close to Regionals. Don't worry, okay? Everything is going to be perfectly fine."

Rachel sighed and said, "I hope you're right."

Quinn pulled into the closest spot to the school that she could find—Sue had taken her assigned spot when she quit the Cheerios—and put the car in park. Rachel quickly climbed out of the car, but Quinn was a little slower about it, waiting for several people to pass by before trying to open her door. She wasn't in a hurry like the brunette was; they both knew the routine perfectly, and Quinn didn't really understand why they needed the extra practice. Even if Rachel thought she needed to be there, Quinn didn't think anyone would actually care about whether or not Rachel attended the voluntary practice.

"Hurry up!" Rachel demanded.

Quinn smiled affectionately and followed behind the brunette at a much slower pace. It was actually Rachel's fault they were late; they stayed up half the night talking, and they both eventually drifted off to sleep without Rachel setting her alarm. When she saw what time it was once she finally woke up, she practically shoved Quinn out of the bed, demanding she get ready as quickly as possible.

"I'm coming," Quinn said with a light laugh.

Rachel reached the door several moments before she did, and held it open, giving her a pointed look that clearly said she needed to pick up the pace. Quinn was about to reach out to take the brunette's hand when her vision blurred and a shard pain went through her whole body. The blood was rushing in her ears and she could barely hear anything; what she could hear was her own screaming. She fell to her hands and knees, trying to breathe through the pain. A few moments later, it felt like something else went through her, and the pain was replaced by warmth. For a second she felt like she was floating, and then as quickly as it began, it was over.

She was panting on the ground and looked up to find Rachel gone. She looked around, expecting to find the brunette beside her, but she was completely alone. Her whole body was shaking as she got to her feet and she was covered in sweat. It felt like she had been running for hours; everything ached and she could barely catch her breath. She had no idea what happened or where Rachel was, but it didn't seem likely that she would just leave her like that. Quinn knew Rachel would have been at her side in an instant, and she was beginning to panic as she wondered where her girlfriend was.

When she walked into the school, the first thing she noticed was that the halls were completely empty, which was strange. The first bell was close to ringing, and usually at that time, the halls would be full of students. Lockers were open and backpacks were sitting on the floor, but there was no one at them. Her legs were protesting, but she picked up the pace anyway, walking to the choir room. Just like the hall, though, the room was empty, though everyone's bags were sitting around the room and the music was playing. They had clearly been in the room, but now it was empty, and she had no idea where everyone was.

She turned and started running through the school, looking for any sign that someone else was in the building. She looked in all the open classes as she ran by and checked in the locker rooms, cafeteria, auditorium, and she even went to the football field. From what she could tell, though, she was the only person in the entire school. It was clear people had been there—things were still scattered around—but it was as if everyone had just disappeared.

Quinn was trying to stay calm, but it was easier said than done. She didn't know if something had happened to everyone else or if she had been the one that it happened to, but judging by what happened earlier, she figured she was the one that had been affected. The only thing running through her mind, though, was that she needed to get back to everyone else—or bring them back to her. Different scenarios were running through her mind—a spell, some sort of alternate dimension, a dream—but she had no way of knowing what it was. Rachel was usually the one to figure these things out, but she wasn't here to do that this time. Quinn was completely alone, and she was going to have to figure this out herself.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked into the Berry house and immediately went to the basement, hoping Santana would be there. When she walked down the stairs, the television was on and a mug of blood was sitting on the table, but the vampire wasn't there.<p>

"Santana!" she called out, though she knew it was useless. "Santana!"

She sighed to herself and sat down on the bed, running her hand through her hair. She was terrified she would never see her friends again—never see Rachel again—and she was trembling at the thought.

"No," Quinn said to herself, shaking her head.

She knew she couldn't think like that; there had to be a logical—albeit supernatural—explanation for what was going on. If everyone had died, surely there would be some sign of it. Instead, it appeared that everyone had just vanished into thin air, which meant there had to be some way to get them all back.

Quinn sighed. She wished Rachel or Brittany were here, preferably both of them. She knew Rachel would figure out what was going on much quicker than she would, and Brittany would probably be able to do something about it—reverse a spell if that was the cause, or do one of her own to make everyone reappear.

She grabbed her phone and stated calling everyone she knew; she knew it was long shot, but if she was still here, maybe someone else would be, too. As she called each of the New Directions, she let the phone ring until it went to voicemail, which it inevitably did each time. She almost called her parents, but after staring at each of their names for a moment, she skipped over them, going to the next person in her contacts. She didn't even know why she still had their numbers in her phone; part of her hoped one day that they would come around—at least her mother, anyway—but she knew that would never happen. For better or worse, they were still her parents, though, and it was hard to give up on the hope that maybe she could regain some of the family she had lost.

She called each of the people in her contact list, but every time the phone rang and rang without anyone ever answering, and as the television continued to play some movie in the background, Quinn got an idea. She wondered if this was only happening in Lima or if it was happening everywhere, so she turned the channel until she hit one of the stations airing one of the morning news shows. The anchors were there, though, so it was clearly not happening all across the country. She continued turning the channel until she landed on one of the local stations, and all that was airing was two empty chairs, where the newscasters had obviously been sitting before they vanished.

"So it's only here," Quinn mumbled to herself.

This led her to believe that it was a spell of some sort, reasoning that if it had been something else, Lima wouldn't be the only place that had been affected. She just didn't know why she was still here when no one else was. Whatever it was, she figured it had to do with what happened to her just before Rachel vanished. Quinn just wished she knew what it was that did happen to her; she'd never experienced pain like that before, and she hoped she never would again. Though, if it meant she could get Rachel back, she wouldn't hesitate to go through it again.

Throwing her phone on the bed, she looked around the room. She honestly didn't even know where to begin. Rachel was the one that was better at research, but it was clearly up to her now. The problem was, she had no idea what to look for, or what to even search. Going through books alone could take days or even weeks, and she didn't know how much time she had—or maybe she had all the time in the world. Speaking of which, she looked at the time to see if it was still going or if somehow time was standing still. Her phone showed that it was 9:34, though, and when she looked out, the sun was definitely higher in the sky than it had been earlier.

Quinn stood suddenly, feeling like she needed to do something, and walked to the other side of the room. She grabbed an empty duffle bag from the corner of the room and started throwing weapons inside; she didn't know what she was going to need or if she was even going to need anything, but she was going to be prepared if she did. Once the bag was packed with all the weapons in the basement, she unplugged Rachel's laptop and put it into her messenger bag that was sitting beneath the desk. She zipped it up and shouldered the bag before grabbing the duffle, and heading upstairs to her room. The bag she used for patrolling was already in her car, but she did have a few things lying around the room that she threw into the bag, just in case.

She looked around for anything else that might be useful, but she had everything she could think of. Now, she just needed to figure out what was going on and how she could fix it—or if she could fix it.

* * *

><p>As with her drive home, she dodged cars on the way into town. She drove by more than one car wreck, but mostly the cars were just stopped in the middle of the street, or sometimes in the middle of the sidewalk. Some had crashed into other cars, though, and others had even crashed into buildings when the drivers behind the wheel had disappeared. In the middle of town, she had to abandon her car; several cars were piled up in the middle of the intersection, and there was no way to get around them. She would have just turned around, but there was somewhere she needed to go.<p>

She looked around as she walked down the middle of the street, walking around cars and occasionally a bike or baby stroller. It was eerie being completely alone in a town that was usually bustling with people during the day. As she passed by the lawyer's office her father worked at, she couldn't help but look up at the window she knew his office was at. For a moment she thought she saw movement a few windows over, but when she looked closer, she didn't see anything. Frowning, she continued to stare at it, but eventually looked forward again, focusing on getting where she was going.

The shop wasn't yet open, but it didn't matter; a car had plowed through the front window, and Quinn knocked some of the glass out of the way, slipping into The Magick Shop. She felt bad about what she was about to do, but she didn't want to have to come back out later if she figured out there was something she needed from the place. So, she started grabbing things—herbs, oils, candles, gems; she took anything she thought she could possibly need. If she used anything, she would gladly pay for it once things were back to normal, and she would find a way to bring everything else back.

Once she was satisfied, she climbed over the car, and began making her way back to her own vehicle. As she walked along, she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She didn't know where it was coming from, and when she looked around, there was no sign of anyone being there.

"Hello?" she tried calling out. "Is anyone there?"

She turned in a circle, looking in every direction, but no one responded and there was no movement that she could see. So, she turned and continued walking to her car. With every step, though, she continued to feel as if she was being watched. She was listening carefully for any sound, but multiple car alarms were going off, so it was difficult to hear anything else above the noise.

Quinn was about twenty yards from her car when a low growl got her attention and she stopped in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder and her eyes darted around, looking for the source of the sound. She wondered if her mind was just playing tricks on her, but something told her that wasn't the case. Something was watching her, following her, and she had the feeling it wasn't simply another person that was just too scared to say anything.

She began walking again, focusing on getting to her car, and trying to ignore the feeling of being watched. She squeezed between two cars in the intersection and slid over the hood of another. The moment her feet hit the ground, though, her legs were swept out from underneath her, and she landed hard on the pavement. The supplies she took from the shop also hit the ground, spilling out of the bags, and she could hear several bottles shatter.

Groaning, she tried to stand up, but only got knocked down again. This time, she heard a growl come from behind her, and she knew she didn't just trip. Without looking over her shoulder, she scrambled to her feet and dove over the back of one of the cars. She heard something hit the metal and looked back to see what was attacking her.

The demon was large—several feet taller than her—and it had its teeth bared. It was definitely one of the uglier demons she had come across—greenish skin with what looked like pustules and one eye looked like it had been cut out. The thing looked strong, and she knew if she wanted to kill it, she needed to get to her car, where her weapons were. The demon was standing between her and the vehicle, though, so she needed to find a way to get around it.

The closer the demon came, the further she backed up; her back hit a van, though, and she looked around for the easiest way to get to her car. As soon as the demon was close enough, Quinn gripped the side of the van and kicked the thing with both feet, sending it flying backwards. Quinn ran to the left, slid over the hood of one car, ran around two others, and skidded to a halt at her car. She reached in the open window and grabbed a sword from her duffle bag, listening as the demon went crashing through the vehicles behind her. The moment it was in her hand, she turned, piercing the demon's chest. She could see the surprise in its eyes, and after a few seconds of staring at each other, it stumbled back and fell to the pavement. She kicked at its leg with her foot, but the demon didn't move.

Quinn dropped the sword onto the ground and put her hands on her knees, taking a deep breath. She reached down, picking up the sword, and turned around to throw it into the car. She then walked back to where the bags had spilled and picked everything up before heading back to the car.

* * *

><p>Quinn pulled into the McKinley High parking lot and came to a stop in the same space she was in earlier. She looked around to make sure she wasn't about to be attacked again, and then opened her door. She stepped out of the car, continuing to keep an eye out for any sign of something unusual. She pulled the bags out of the back, shouldering the messenger and duffle bags, and carrying the supplies from the magic shop in her hands. After using her hip to shut the door, she began walking toward the school, looking over her shoulder as she went.<p>

She had been hoping to find out she wasn't alone in Lima, but now that she knew she wasn't, she wished she was. The demon could just be a fluke, but something told her that wasn't the case, and she figured it was only a matter of time before she was attacked again. Going to the school probably wasn't the best idea—it would undoubtedly be one of the first places that things would search for her. Most of her Watcher's books were there, though, and if she was going to figure out what was happening, she was probably going to need them.

Quinn was used to being at school on weekends and in the evening, but right now she was finding the empty hallways creepy. She didn't know if it was the open lockers or just the knowledge that the halls should be filled with students, but it didn't feel right. She looked in the choir room as she walked by, wondering who all had been inside. Judging by the number of bags, though, most of the club had shown up.

As she neared the locker room, she could hear the water from the showers running. Before she went into the training room, she walked over and shut the water off. She would have ignored it, but she had Rachel's voice in her head telling her that things like that were how droughts got started.

She pulled out her keys and opened the door to the training room; she walked inside and looked around. She wondered if her Watcher had been there before she disappeared, but there were no obvious signs that she had been in the room. She looked around, though, just in case she had been reaching anything beforehand that would be useful, but there were no books lying around. Sighing, she walked to the bookshelf and started pulling things at random and then set them on the blue mat.

"This is going to be a long day," Quinn said to herself.

She sat there for hours, pouring over every book for anything that could help her. Nothing sounded remotely like what had happened to her, though, and there was no information about everyone in a town disappearing. After a while, she started reading over the Watcher's diaries to see if anything similar had happened to a previous Slayer. While she found nothing pertaining to her situation, it was interesting to read about the Slayers before her. Though, many of the diaries ended abruptly; at first she didn't know why, but after the third time, she realized it was because the Slayer had died, and their Watcher failed to write about the end.

Yawning, she looked up to see the time, and was shocked to see that so much time had passed. The sun was already beginning to set outside and she still hadn't found anything that could help her. She wasn't going to stop, though. Throwing her current book aside, she grabbed another and started flipping through it. By the time she looked through the book, another hour had passed, and her stomach was rumbling nonstop.

She decided she would go to the cafeteria to see if she could find some food; she hadn't ate at all because Rachel had been rushing them to get to school that morning, so they skipped breakfast. The moment she walked into the locker room, though, she heard voices. She paused, listening, and it sounded like whoever was speaking was getting closer. She could hear what sounded like at least three different people, and she had the feeling they were not friendly. She darted back into the training room, grabbed her bag of weapons, and went back out to hide at the back of the locker room. The voices were getting even closer and she didn't want to be trapped in the other room if they did come inside.

"—to find her. It'll be over in twenty-four hours; we don't have much time," one of the voices said.

"We only have half a day now," a different, female voice said.

"Go that way," yet another voice sounded.

"We'll find her."

"What if we don't?"

"We will."

"Do you want one of those bottom dwellers finding the Slayer first?"

Quinn held her breath as the group stopped just outside the locker room. She could see now that it was a group of vampires—four of them—and they were apparently looking for her.

"Check in there," the apparent leader of the group said, nodding into the room. "Hurry."

Two of the vampires walked into the room; one was walking toward the training room door while the other was headed in her direction. She quietly pulled a stake out of her bag, ready to fight.

"Hey, in here."

The vampire stopped only a few feet from her hiding place and turned to walk the other way; the vampires that remained in the hall all came inside and walked into the training room.

"I think the Slayer was here."

Quinn quickly moved, hiding behind a row of lockers as she made her way to the door. She looked around them to see if any of the vampires were looking in her direction, but they were too busy looking around the training room to notice her. As quietly as she could, she tiptoed out of the room and started jogging down the hall toward the nearest exit.

* * *

><p>As Quinn tried to make her way out of the school, she ran into several other groups of vampires. She bypassed one group by going into a classroom and exiting out the other side and she had to hide in the janitor's closet, waiting for the other group to pass her. She could hear the vampires talking for what felt like forever; the voices eventually drifted away, though, and when she opened the door and poked her head out, the hallway was empty.<p>

She was finally near the door that led to the football field; it would still take a while to get to her car, but she was hoping it would be easier to get around outside than it was inside the school. She opened the back exit, cringing as it squeaked with every inch it moved. She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one had heard it, and when it was clear no one was coming, she continued opening it enough for her to slip through.

Quinn stepped into the night air and listened closely for voices; she could hear two, but it sounded like they were on the other side of the building, walking away from her. She sprinted toward the football field and looked around to make sure nothing had spotted her. The vampires seemed to be focusing on the school, though, so there were none near the bleachers. Once she was safely under them, she took a deep breath, and looked back toward the school.

She thought back over what she'd heard—what did they mean by it being over in twenty-four hours? Then, the other vampire had said that they had half a day. Quinn had no idea what they were talking about, but she wondered if they knew exactly what was going on. Clearly they were specifically searching for her, which meant they knew she was still here even though every other person in Lima had disappeared. She wondered if this had to do with Shelby—maybe the vampire was the one responsible. She shook her head, though; it felt like this was something else. Shelby was just a vampire, and in Quinn's experience, vampires generally stayed away from magic. And why would Shelby do this when she could just attack Quinn at any time?

Quinn looked around again and then slowly made her way to the other side of the bleachers, where she could hop over the fence. She figured it would be easier to get to the sidewalk and then get to the parking lot that way. When she finally got to the fence, she climbed up and over, dropping to the sidewalk on the other side. She followed the fence to the parking lot, stopping behind a large tree, and glancing around it.

She groaned; there were three vampires around her car. Normally she would fight them, but she knew how many more were inside the school, which meant they could all come running to help their friends. She didn't think taking on a whole pack of vampires would be the best thing, so she sighed, realizing she was going to need a different plan. Obviously she couldn't go back into the school—she was lucky enough to make it out undetected—and they were sure to know where she lived, so she couldn't go there, either.

Turning on her heel, she decided she should find a safe place while figuring out where she should take up refuge. When she made it to the crosswalk, she paused, and turned back. She knew the vampires were aware of what was going on—if she could get one alone, maybe she could get some information from it. She didn't know how easy that would be, though; they seemed to be travelling in large packs at the moment.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. All the books and Rachel's laptop were currently in the training room, and she had no way of getting to them, so right now, she was really out of other options.

* * *

><p>Quinn was walking behind buildings, going down alleys, and looking for any vampire that might be alone or at least with only one or two other vampires. The problem was most of town was deserted. She was afraid to go to a cemetery since she would be much more out in the open, but she was currently not having any luck trying to find a vampire. So many of them were at the school—and she suspected a bunch more were probably at the Berry house—but it would be difficult to get one of them alone there. She was beginning to think she was going to have to try, though.<p>

Quinn sighed as she walked between two buildings and walked out into the open. She looked both ways, but the street was completely dead. She didn't even know why she was going between buildings; there wasn't really anything for her to sneak up on.

"Hello?" she said, hoping to get something's attention. "Is anything there?"

She sighed again and turned around, running directly into something. Stumbling back, she looked up, and instantly threw a punch when she saw the demon looking at her.

"Ouch, why did you do that?"

Quinn's brows furrowed as she watched the demon rub its nose. She had never heard one speak before—she didn't actually know they could—and she was more than a little confused.

"Whoa, don't kill me!" it said when Quinn pulled out a sword from her bag.

"Why wouldn't I kill you?" Quinn asked.

"I'm not here to hurt you," it said, holding up its hands.

"Well, that would be a first," Quinn remarked.

"I don't actually eat your kind," it said. "You're all bones."

Quinn scrunched her nose in disgust. "Somehow that doesn't make me feel better."

The demon took a step back as it said, "I can help you."

"How?" Quinn asked.

"I've been watching you, following you," it replied. "I know you've figured out that everything is after you, but do you know why?"

Quinn sighed. "No."

"I know why," it said.

"Why would you help me?" Quinn asked.

"Because if I don't, the vampire queen is going to take over," it replied. "Vampires and demons—especially demons like me—don't really get along. My people were enslaved by them for years, and without you here, the one they call Mistress Shelby is going to take over Lima."

"So, she is the one that did this," Quinn said.

The demon shook its head. "No, this was something else. Something else that put a bounty on your head if they can kill you by morning. A spell was cast to remove everyone with a soul from this town, leaving only you and the monsters of this town."

"Excuse me?" Quinn said, frowning.

"Oh, your soul was removed," it explained. "Momentarily, but it was removed and then the spell was cast."

Quinn frowned. "How do you know this?"

"Word spread quickly," it replied. "Most demons knew they couldn't take you on their own, so a lot have teamed up."

"And you want to help me?" Quinn said, still not believing it.

"As I said, without you, the vampire will win, and I don't want that to happen," it replied. "Vampires will take over this town, leaving little room for the rest of us. My name is Myklaik of the Jequal Clan. My friends call me Myk."

"Can all demons talk?" Quinn asked.

"Some," Myk replied. "Most speak in their own language, but I've been around your kind long enough to learn your language."

Quinn nodded. "How do I know you're not setting me up?"

"You don't," the demon said, shrugging. "You can kill me or you can trust me and let me help you."

Quinn looked at the demon; it didn't actually look that dangerous. She couldn't see any sharp claws, and it actually looked moderately human—just slightly furry and with green eyes. It was small, though—much smaller than her—and for some reason she actually believed him.

"How did you sneak up on me?" Quinn asked.

"When my people were enslaved, we were taught to not be seen or heard," Myk replied. "If we were, our heads were cut off and hung to show the rest what would happen."

Quinn frowned, actually feeling sorry for the demon—which was something she never thought would happen. "Alright, you can help me, but if this is a trick, I won't hesitate to use one of these swords against you."

The demon nodded. "We need to find a safe place for you, and I think I know just where to take you."

* * *

><p>Quinn groaned, rubbing her jaw, and then kicked out, hitting the vampire in the chest, and throwing her off balance. She dove over the vampire, rolling on the ground, and grabbing her stake where it had fallen. She grabbed the vampire's shirt as it charged her, flipping the vampire onto its back, and plunging the stake into the creature's chest.<p>

As the vampire exploded, she looked over her shoulder at Myk, who was fighting a battle of his own. He was definitely no match for the demon, which was twice his size, and Quinn ran over, grabbing a sword from her bag as she ran by. While the demon was focusing on her companion, Quinn beheaded it from behind. The demon's head fell to the ground with a thud, and its body turned to goo.

"Eww," Quinn said, looking down at the green puddle.

"We're lucky there are no more," Myk said.

The demon turned and continued walking while Quinn followed behind.

"Where are we going?" Quinn asked.

"You'll see," the demon replied.

Quinn huffed. "You're lucky I'm trusting you at all; leading me to some unknown location is definitely pushing it."

"Yet you're still following me," Myk remarked. "Right now, you need me as much as I need you."

"Actually, all I need to do is hide until morning and I'll be okay," Quinn stated.

"Yes, but where will you hide?" Myk asked. "They are everywhere you've ever been, and they're all looking for you. You got lucky coming out of that building."

"You were following me then?" Quinn said.

"I followed you since you came out of your den this morning," Myk replied. "I knew it would happen, and I wanted to be there when it did."

"Why didn't you just tell me this morning, then?" Quinn asked.

Myk shrugged. "I didn't want you to kill me, but I thought you might listen to me after it happened. And I must say, I wanted to see what you were capable of. I followed you into town and you were attacked and killed that Klouk quickly. Then you got out of that building with all the vampires around. I can see why you haven't been killed yet."

"Thanks?" Quinn said, furrowing her brows. "But I still want to know where we're going."

"Just follow me," Myk said, shaking his head. "We're almost there."

Quinn wondered where 'there' was. They had been walking for what felt like hours—it was probably less time than that, but her body still ached—and she didn't really know where they were. It looked like a neighborhood, but a lot of the houses were run down and a lot had foreclosed signs in their yards. She never really came to this side of town since it was the opposite side of where she lived, and there were no cemeteries around for her to patrol. Myk clearly knew the area well, though. He was taking shortcuts through backyards, and seemed to know where every loose board was.

Quinn just hoped she wasn't being led into a trap. Myk seemed sincere, but he was also a soulless demon, so it was hard to have complete faith in him.

As she ducked under another fence, she stumbled over a hole in the ground, and came to a stop behind the demon. Her hand was resting on top of the unzipped bag, ready to grab a weapon if she needed it. She didn't know why the demon had stopped, but after a moment he turned to the house they were behind and walked up to the door. He got down on his hands and knees, crawling through the doggy door. Quinn waited outside as she heard the scrapping of what sounded like a deadbolt, and then the click of another lock, before the door was opened.

Quinn walked inside slowly, ready to be attacked at any moment in the dark room. She could hear the demon shuffling around the room, and then the room was slightly lit by a small flame. She didn't know what he was doing, but then she realized he was lighting a candle; one after another, he lit more, until the whole room was illuminated.

Now that she could see a little better, she relaxed some and said, "Is this where you live?"

"Yes," Myk replied.

"It's cozy," Quinn said, looking around.

The place was small—very small—but it didn't look too bad. Considering how most demons lived, it was downright homey.

"You should be safe here," Myk said. "I doubt they will search in the home of a demon.

Quinn nodded. "Good plan."

"Now, we just need to keep you alive until morning," Myk said as he walked into the other room.

* * *

><p>Quinn was tired, but she didn't fall asleep; she was too afraid to close her eyes. Myk had been puttering about the whole time while she sat at the window, looking for anything that might be coming to attack her. Every now and then she would look up to see what the demon was doing, but he only appeared to be cleaning. It was slightly funny to see a short, furry demon cleaning, and she would smile every time she looked at him. She was just happy he hadn't tried to kill her so far; he was really growing on her and she would hate to have to kill him.<p>

She breathed a little easier when the sky began getting lighter. The demons would still be out, but at least the vampires would be heading for cover soon, and there seemed to be more of them looking for her than demons. She wanted to be at school when the spell ended, which meant they needed to leave soon. She didn't just want to disappear in front of Rachel—she assumed everyone would appear where they had vanished—and make her girlfriend worry. So, as soon as the sun was finally above the horizon, she would leave. She wouldn't have much time to get there, but at least she knew she wouldn't have to contend with any vampires if she waited.

It only took a few more minutes before the sun began peeking over the small hill and Quinn stood up. "I need to get back."

"It's not time," Myk replied. "The spell's still in effect."

"I know, but if I'm gone when Rachel comes back, she'll worry," Quinn replied.

"You want to risk your life for a girl?" Myk said, looking slightly aghast.

"Yes," Quinn said simply.

Myk shook his head. "You humans always think with your heart; I'm surprised you creatures still rule this world."

"Maybe we rule this world because we do think with our hearts," Quinn countered. "I'm going, okay? You don't have to come with me."

The demon nodded. "Don't die."

"I'll try not to," Quinn said, giving him a lopsided smile.

Quinn grabbed her bag and walked to the front door; Myk followed her to let her out. When she stepped outside, before the demon could shut the door, she turned around and said, "Thank you. You know, for the help. I didn't really know where I was going to go, so—thank you."

"Just don't die and have me go through all this work for nothing," Myk replied.

Quinn laughed. "I think I'll be okay."

"You better be," Myk grumbled as he closed the door.

Quinn shook her head, smiling as she walked down the front steps. Since the demon took her the back way, she wasn't quite sure where she was going, but she knew the general direction of the school. She knew she needed to hurry, though, if she wanted to be at the school by the time the spell wore off, so she started running. Her legs were protesting, but she didn't care; she knew it was probably stupid, but she didn't want Rachel to worry. She had messed up her girlfriend's life enough by just being in it, and she'd vowed a while ago to do whatever she could to not make Rachel worry. Brittany told her how scared Rachel was when she was taken by those fairy things, and Quinn didn't want her to go through that again.

By the time she could finally see McKinley High in the distance, she had to slow down to catch her breath. She had her hands on her knees and was trying to take deep breaths, but it was really coming out more in short bursts. Then she heard it—the sound of footsteps and a low growl. Groaning, she turned around and came face to face with two demons. One was slimy, purple, and about her size while the other looked strong, had skin that was orange tinged, and was quite a bit bigger than her.

"You guys couldn't make this easy on me, could you?" Quinn said, sighing.

The first demon ran at her and she pulled her sword out just in time, stabbing it in the neck, and pulling it out to lash the second demon across the chest. The purple demon fell to the ground, but the second one wasn't even slowed down. It grabbed her by the throat, throwing her several yards back. She landed on her back in the middle of the street and groaned in pain. When she looked up, the demon was staring down at her, and Quinn quickly scrambled to her feet, tackling the demon to the ground. She was thrown off, but managed to land on her feet. She swung the sword, connecting with the demon's neck; both the head and the body fell to the ground with a thud, and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief.

She rubbed her arm as she walked where her bag had fallen; she threw in a dagger and stake that had fallen out and shouldered it again. When she turned around, though, the large demon was beginning to move again. Its body was starting to get up, reaching for its head, as Quinn watched in disbelief.

Without hesitating, she turned, and began running to the school again.

* * *

><p>Quinn could hear the demon pursuing her as she ran through the school parking lot. She hoped to outrun it, but the thing was fast—almost as fast as her. She was running full speed through the parking lot and looked at her watch as she ran. Everything should go back to normal any minute—she didn't know the exact time it happened—and that was good because she had no idea how to kill this demon, but maybe Rachel would. Normally beheading always worked in demons, so she was at a loss.<p>

"Water!"

Quinn frowned looking over her shoulder, wondering if she really did just hear a voice. Far off, though, was Myk running after them, his stubby legs working overtime.

"Water!" he shouted again, pointing at the other demon.

Quinn nodded, understanding what he meant now, and changed direction. She ran to the side of the school and threw the door open, running down one of the halls she really frequented. She wasn't even sure which room it was, but she knew she was going in the right direction because the smell of chlorine was getting stronger. She didn't bother to see if the demon was still following her; she could hear its snarls and heavy footsteps every step of the way.

She almost missed the door to the pool, turning at the last moment when she saw it through the open door. She ran into the room, stopping once she was at the edge. When she turned around, the demon was slowly walking to her, clearly weary of the water since it kept looking to the right. Quinn gradually walked backwards, making sure the demon would have to be next to the water if it wanted to attack her. With every step the demon took, Quinn took a step back.

She kept her eyes locked onto the demon, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see Myk creeping into the room. He made a shoving motion with his hands as he walked behind the demon, and Quinn smirked. The demon clearly never heard him enter because it never turned around before being shoved into the water.

Despite the water not being that deep, the demon seemed to sink to the bottom, unable to stand up. It thrashed around, splashing water out of the pool for several minutes, and then it was still.

"Is it dead?" Quinn asked, really not wanting to get in the water to check.

"It's dead," Myk answered.

"I thought you stayed behind," Quinn said.

Myk shrugged. "I didn't trust you not to die."

Quinn laughed. "Thanks."

"It's almost time," Myk said.

"Thank you," Quinn said, giving the demon a smile. "You saved my life."

"I know," Myk replied.

Quinn shook her head, smiling as she ran to the exit, making her way to the front of the school. The halls were still devoid of people, but she knew it would happen any second. Sure enough, the second she walked out the front entrance, Rachel popped up out of nowhere, still bent over from where she was checking on Quinn.

"—re you—Quinn?" Rachel stood up, looking at her. "How did you—when did you get over there?"

"It's a very long story," Quinn said, smiling at her.

"What—long story?" Rachel said, clearly confused. "How can it be a long story? You were just in front of me a second ago."

"Come on," Quinn said, holding out her hand. "I'll tell you on the way to the choir room."

Rachel took her hand and looked over her shoulder, frowning at the spot Quinn had originally been. When they walked into the hall, students were everywhere, and for the first time ever, Quinn was happy to see everyone.

* * *

><p>Rachel gasped. "What do you mean we lost a day! But that means—Regionals are in two days, not three?! Oh my god! What are we going to do? We were already behind; this is a complete disaster!"<p>

"Rachel, calm down," Quinn said, stopping the brunette from pacing.

"Quinn, do you know what this means?" Rachel asked, clearly in full panic mode. "We only had three days to perfect our performance, and now we only have two days. Two days! We have to make sure Finn has the choreography down, and we now only have forty-eight hours. I don't know what we're going to do. There's no way we can win Regionals now!"

"It's only one day," Quinn said, though she did know that lost day was important.

Rachel took a deep breath. "We have to get to the choir room."

Rachel walked out of the bathroom without looking back. Quinn laughed lightly and shook her head, following behind the brunette. When she walked into the choir room, Rachel was already barking orders at everyone. The rest of the group looked incredibly confused as to why Rachel looked so panicked since none of them knew what had happened, and most of them wouldn't know. She didn't know how losing a day was going to be explained to everyone, but it would probably just be another one of those things that people accepted without explanation.

Quinn glanced at Brittany as she walked in, and the blonde looked back with a perplexed expression. Quinn shrugged, unable to explain what had happened with so many other people in the room. As she started walking to the risers, she abruptly stopped, and turned back to Brittany.

"Can I see your phone?" Quinn asked.

"It's in my backpack," Brittany said.

Quinn walked over, grabbed the bag, and rummaged through it for the phone, hoping it wasn't dead. She scrolled through the recent contacts, knowing Santana would be at the top of the list. She walked out of the room as she called the number and went into the nearest empty classroom.

"Hey, B—"

"Santana," Quinn interrupted. "What did you do for the last day?"

"What?" Santana asked. "Who is this?"

"Quinn," the blonde replied, rolling her eyes. "Where have you been for the past day?"

"Weren't you here just, like, thirty minutes ago?" Santana asked.

"Thanks," Quinn said, pulling the phone from her ear.

"What the fu—"

Quinn walked across the hall, back into the choir room. She looked up at Rachel, who was still directing everyone and fussing over every move they made.

"What's going on?" Brittany asked, walking up to her.

"Do me a favor and get everyone's attention," Quinn whispered to her. "Have everyone go through the routine repeatedly until the bell rings."

"Okay," Brittany said, sounding a bit uncertain, but she did it nevertheless.

"Rachel," Quinn said, grabbing the brunette's arm, and pulling her to the side of the room.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked. "We didn't lose another day, did we? Please tell me—a"

"No, nothing like that," Quinn interrupted, shaking her head. "I can't believe I didn't realize it earlier; I called Santana and she disappeared like everyone else."

Rachel shrugged. "So, what does that—oh my. That means—"

"Santana has a soul," Quinn finished.

"But how?" Rachel asked.

"I have a feeling you were right all along," Quinn said, looking across the room at Brittany, who was currently instructing Finn. "I think it has to do with Brittany."

"Really?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged as she said, "What other explanation is there? Either way, I doubt we'll ever find out."

"At least that explains why she hasn't killed us all in our sleep," Rachel remarked.

Quinn smiled. "That it does."

"Come on," Rachel said, pulling Quinn toward the middle of the room. "Regionals are in two days; we can't dawdle around if we want to beat Vocal Adrenaline."

Mercedes halted in the middle of a spin. "What do you mean two days?"

* * *

><p><strong>Two chapters left and they're going to be the two part finale. <strong>

**Reviews are always appreciated and highly encouraged.**


	21. Consequences, Part 1

**ScorpioP: I actually do plan on having Myk pop up every now and then.**

**SigBerry: Because of your comment, he is now in my mind as well lol.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21 – Consequences, Part 1<strong>

"I don't think I've ever been this nervous before a competition," Rachel said, wringing her hands together. "I'm normally confident—some would say overly confident—but I just don't think we're ready. Finn is still not quite there with the dancing, and neither are Puck or Mercedes if I'm being honest."

"We'll be fine," Quinn said, rubbing her hands up and down Rachel's arms.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know; our set list was questionable to begin with. I don't know why Mr. Schue insisted on us doing a Journey medley. While their music is quite enjoyable, I don't think it shows off our vocal talent, which is what we should be showcasing. Vocal Adrenaline is good at performing, but their singers are not the strongest when it comes to their voices. That's where we are superior to them and it's what we should have highlighted. I definitely think I should have done a ballad of some kind; I just wish he would have listened to me."

"I know," Quinn replied.

"I don't know why he insists on singing songs from his youth," Rachel continued. "I'm all for older songs, but I think the judges would appreciate something that is a little more classic. At least Brittany and Mike were allowed to create the choreography; if everyone had more time to rehearse, I believe it could have made up for what I believe is a less than stellar song choice."

Quinn listened as Rachel ranted and smiled; she always thought it was cute when Rachel went on one of these little tirades. She wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be okay, but she didn't think she would really listen at this point. Rachel's concerns were valid, though. Quinn didn't think Mr. Schue's song choices were doing them any favors and they were still a little unpolished when it came to the choreography. She had seen Vocal Adrenaline perform once, and if they were anywhere near as good tonight as they were then, she didn't think New Directions stood a chance, but she wasn't going to say that to Rachel. She knew how much her girlfriend wanted to win this, and she wasn't going to bring her down right before she went on stage.

"I still can't believe we lost a whole day of preparation," Rachel said, sighing.

"I know, but—"

"How exactly did that happen?" Kurt asked, clearly listening in on their conversation.

Rachel looked at Kurt and then glanced back to Quinn before shrugging. "How should I know?"

"Doesn't anyone find it a little weird?" Kurt asked.

"Maybe we all just lost track of time," Rachel suggested.

Kurt scoffed. "Are you serious?"

"Who says we lost any time?" Brittany asked. "Maybe the whole town just thought it was one day, but it was really another day and we all finally realized it."

"That's not possible," Mercedes said.

"How do you know?" Brittany asked.

"Because that's stupid," Mercedes replied.

"It's not stupid," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at Mercedes.

"You expect me to believe that we all just thought it was the wrong day?" Mercedes asked.

"What other explanation is there?" Quinn asked. "It's crazy to think a day just disappeared."

"Crazy or not, it happened," Tina said, joining the conversation. "There's obviously something going on."

Rachel cleared her throat. "We really should be focusing on our performance."

"So, what's your explanation?" Mercedes asked, looking at Quinn. "Do you think we just all lost track of time or did we all fall asleep for twenty-four hours?"

Quinn shrugged. "What makes you think I would know?"

"It was just a question," Mercedes replied.

"Rachel's right—we should focus on performing," Quinn said.

Quinn didn't like that everyone was starting to become suspicious. She didn't like lying to her friends, but she knew it was necessary. She wished she could just tell everyone; it would make them safer if they knew not to go out at night, but she couldn't do that. The Council said people would panic if they knew the truth and forbid her from revealing anything to the public. She didn't know if she believed that—it seemed like everyone would be better off if they knew the truth—but she would go along with it anyway.

Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina looked like they wanted to say something more, but after a few moments, they walked away. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief; as much as she tried to come up with an explanation for what happened, she couldn't think of any plausible lie. An entire day disappeared; what explanation could there be for that?

The door opened and Mr. Schue walked in. "Okay, guys, we're on in five minutes."

The nervous excitement in the room seemed to grow. Finn began pacing in front of the couch and Brittany looked excited, but Rachel looked even more panicked. Quinn reached out and took her hand; Rachel took a deep breath and then looked at Quinn, smiling softly at her.

"Are you ready?" Quinn asked.

"I believe I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Rachel answered.

"I know we lost a day, but we've done everything we could," Quinn stated. "I don't know if we'll win, but even if we don't, you've done an amazing job this year. This is our first year as a glee club and we won Sectionals; that's more than a lot of people can say. Besides, there's always the next two years and I promise you we will win Nationals before we graduate."

Rachel smiled. "I hope so."

"Enjoy this," Quinn said, squeezing Rachel's hand.

"Oh, I will," Rachel replied with a laugh.

* * *

><p>Quinn stared out the window as the trees went by; she saw a sign pass by a few miles ago showing that Lima was seven miles away. It had been a long day and she would be happy to get home. None of them got a lot of sleep the previous night since Rachel had them working late into the night and up before dawn.<p>

Rachel's hand hadn't left hers since the moment they get on the bus. It had been very loud on the way to the competition, but since finding out they had only placed second, they had been fairly subdued. Everyone was disappointed, but Rachel oddly seemed the least disappointed of them. As much as Rachel wanted to win Regionals, Quinn had expected more emotion from her once they read out that Vocal Adrenaline received first place and would be the ones going to Nationals.

"We'll win next year."

Quinn looked at Rachel; it was the first thing she had said since their loss. "Yes, we will."

"I'm disappointed we won't be going to Nationals, but I fully believe we'll get there next year," Rachel continued. "This was just our first year together and we've done well to come as far as we did. I'm actually really proud of us. At the beginning of the year, I never would have believed the twelve of us would be here." Rachel smiled. "It's hard to be disappointed when I have more friends than I've ever had, not to mention that I fell in love for the first time. It's been a good year in many aspects, so it's difficult to feel too bad about losing Regionals when I've gained so many things."

"I wish everyone else felt like that," Quinn said with a laugh.

"Yes, Noah doesn't seem to have the same philosophy," Rachel said, following Quinn's gaze to the boy.

Out of everyone, Puck seemed to take their loss the hardest; Quinn didn't think he really even cared about Glee, but she guessed she was wrong. As soon as he found out they lost, he tried to go punch Vocal Adrenaline's captain. Quinn couldn't blame him for it; he was gloating far too much and even Quinn wanted to hit him in the face if only to wipe his smug smile away.

"I'm sure he'll be okay by tomorrow," Quinn said, squeezing Rachel's hand. "Puck's never down for long; he'll play some video game tonight and be back to normal."

"I hope so," Rachel replied. "I've never seen him look so disappointed."

The bus suddenly jerked to the side; Quinn's head almost hit the window and Rachel slammed into her side. She could hear several of her friends yell in surprise—possibly in pain—and the tires started squealing as the bus swerved, finally coming to a stop.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

"I-I'm okay," Rachel said, sitting up. "Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?"

"I'm fine," Quinn said, rubbing her arm, which hit the side of the bus when Rachel fell into her.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, pulling her to the side, and lifting up her sleeve so she could see her arm. "Your arm is awfully red and I think it's already forming a bruise."

"Is everyone okay?" Mr. Schue asked from the front of the bus. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Kurt's bleeding," Mercedes called out.

"I think there's a first aid kit up here," Miss Pillsbury said, standing up, and bustling around.

"I think I hit my head," Brittany said, and Quinn looked back to see the other blonde rubbing at her forehead.

"Are you bleeding?" Rachel asked, getting up, and sitting next to Brittany. "There's no blood, but you could still have a concussion. Do you have a headache? Are you dizzy? Nauseous?"

"I have a little headache," Brittany replied.

"Maybe we should take you to the emergency room, just in case," Rachel said.

"Everyone, stay in your seats," Mr. Schue said, standing aside for Miss Pillsbury to pass by. "I think we ran over something and got a flat, so I'm going to see if we have spare tire."

"I wonder what we ran over," Puck said, looking back at Quinn.

"Probably a nail or something," Quinn said, looking out into the dark, but it was hard to see anything.

"Once Mr. Schue fixes the tire, we'll go to the hospital," Miss Pillsbury said, putting a bandage on Kurt's head. "Better safe than sorry. You should probably call your parents and let them know they should pick you up th—"

The bus went deadly silent as the sound of Mr. Schue's scream sounded outside. After the shock wore off, Quinn jumped out of her seat, telling Puck to keep everyone on the bus as she ran by. She hurried down the steps and sprinted around the bus, trying to find where Mr. Schue was. When Quinn rounded the back of the bus, she found him being held up by a vampire. She couldn't tell if he was alive, but he looked limp. The vampire dropped him onto the road and Quinn's looked for any sign of life, but he was lying there completely motionless.

"He's alive," the vampire stated. "For now."

Quinn was highly aware that she didn't have any weapon with her, so she had no way of actually killing the vampire. It never crossed her mind that she would need to bring a stake with her to Regionals. She suddenly realized the flat tire was probably no accident and that this was completely intentional. She looked over her shoulder, wondering why there was only one vampire and if the bus was about to be attacked, but they seemed to be alone.

"I've been sent to bring you a message from Mistress Shelby," the vampire said, walking around her. "This is just the beginning."

"The beginning of what?" Quinn asked, never taking her eyes off the vampire.

"We're going to kill your friends," the vampire stated. "One by one."

* * *

><p>Rachel felt like her heart was in her throat when she heard Mr. Schue's scream; she hoped he just tripped or something, but something told her that wasn't the case. She and Brittany were staring out the window, but it was so dark that it was hard to see anything. She thought she saw movement, which she assumed was Quinn, but then it disappeared.<p>

"What's going on?" Brittany whispered.

"I don't know," Rachel whispered back.

"I hope Mr. Schue is okay," Brittany said, squinting as she looked out the window.

"I'll be right back," Rachel said.

She stood up and walked to the back of the bus. The red lights allowed her to be able to see a little better, but she didn't know if that was necessarily a good thing. She could see her teacher on the ground while some man was walking around Quinn. His face came into the light and she could see him more clearly.

Rachel stood up and ran back to her seat, grabbing her bag from the floor. She ran to the front of the bus, where Puck was blocking her path, and when he didn't move, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Will you move, Noah," Rachel said.

"Quinn told me not to let anyone off," Puck replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Noah!" Rachel said, stomping her foot in frustration. "Quinn is out there alone, unarmed, and there is a vampire. If you don't let me out right now—"

"Okay, okay," Puck interrupted, stepping aside, and opening the door for her.

Rachel hurried down the stairs, pulling out a cross before reaching inside again, trying to find a stake. She knew there was one inside—she definitely remembered throwing a few in the bag—but it was buried beneath her Regionals dress.

"Oh look, another tasty meal."

Rachel stopped at the sound of the voice and looked up to find the vampire looking at her with a smirk on its face. Her hand was still groping around the bag and it finally wrapped around what she was looking for. She pulled it out and tossed it to Quinn, who caught it midair.

"Think again," Quinn said, putting herself between Rachel and the vampire.

"We need to get him further away from the bus," Rachel whispered. "Anyone looking out the back window can see."

Quinn nodded, so Rachel knew she heard her. The vampire was still walking around them; Quinn slowly started walking to the side and Rachel followed her, making sure to stay behind her. Rachel looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was looking out the window. The last thing they needed was for anyone to see Quinn slaying a vampire, but luckily the creature didn't seem like he was in a hurry to attack, and Quinn was gradually moving them further away from the bus.

"Do you really think you can protect them all?" the vampire asked. "There's one of you and far more of us."

"Check on Mr. Schue," Quinn said to Rachel, her eyes never leaving the vampire.

Rachel looked at her teacher on the ground and then watched the vampire as she hurried over to Mr. Schue. He was very pale and she was afraid he was dead; she reached out, checking his pulse. At first she didn't think he had one, but then she felt the faint beat of his heart.

"He's alive, but barely," Rachel said. "We need to get him to the hospital right now."

She watched as Quinn jumped at the vampire and held on, pushing him several yards back. Quinn began fighting him, hopefully out of sigh from the people inside the bus. Rachel tried to drag Mr. Schue toward the bus, but he was far too heavy for her to move more than a few inches at a time. Just as she was about to run back to the bus to grab Puck, she heard the sound of the vampire hitting the ground and looked up to see him exploding into dust.

"Help," Rachel said.

Quinn ran over and grabbed Mr. Schue under his arms while Rachel grabbed his feet. Rachel still had a difficult time carrying him, but they managed to get him to the bus. Puck opened the door for them and ran down the steps, taking over for Rachel. The two were able to quickly carry him onto the bus and Rachel closed the door behind her.

"We need to go to the emergency room," Quinn said.

"Oh my gosh," Miss Pillsbury said, running up the aisle to them. "What happened to him?"

"He slipped," Quinn immediately lied. "I think he cut his neck and lost a lot of blood."

"Who is going to drive?" Rachel asked.

"I-I don't think I can," Miss Pillsbury said, her eyes even wider than normal.

"I got it," Puck said as they put Mr. Schue into one of the empty seats.

"Can you really drive a bus?" Rachel asked.

Puck shrugged. "How hard can it be?"

"Noah—"

"Trust me, I got it," Puck said, taking a seat in front of the wheel.

"We still have a flat," Quinn stated.

"Shit," Puck mumbled. "Finn, help me change the damn tire."

Puck rushed out of the bus and Finn jogged down the aisle, joining him outside. Rachel hoped they could do it quickly; Mr. Schue didn't look very good and she was wondering if it would be quicker to call an ambulance.

"They need to hurry," Quinn said, looking at their teacher.

"What happened out there?" Rachel asked.

"Shelby sent him," Quinn replied. "Somehow he must have known we were coming and caused the flat." She sighed, shaking her head. "I should go make sure nothing attacks Puck and Finn."

Just as Quinn started to move, there was a knock on the door; she looked out the window before opening it, and the two boys stepped onto the bus.

"There's no way we can change it," Puck said, frowning.

"Someone call an ambulance," Rachel called out.

"Tina is," Mike said.

"Could this night get any worse?" Puck asked.

* * *

><p>Quinn shifted, trying to get comfortable, but it was impossible. The seats in the waiting room were hard and probably the most uncomfortable thing she had ever sat on, which was saying something since she spent hours sitting on the floor of a crypt. Getting tired of trying to find a comfortable position, she stood and walked toward Rachel.<p>

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

Rachel sighed. "This is not how I wanted this evening to go."

"I know," Quinn replied.

Most of the Glee Club was in the waiting room, waiting to find out if Mr. Schue was going to be okay, and waiting for Brittany and Kurt to be checked out. Several of their parents had come to pick them up and gave rides to the rest of them to the hospital. Everyone was a little shaken by what had happened; one by one they would come up and ask Quinn if she saw anything, but there was nothing she could tell them.

"I hope Brittany doesn't have a concussion," Rachel commented.

"I don't think she hit her head too badly," Quinn replied.

"I wonder how much longer it will be," Rachel said, looking at the clock on the wall.

"Probably not too much longer," Quinn replied.

"Do you think we should have let Santana know?" Rachel asked. "I don't think she's going to be very happy with us once she finds out."

Before she went to be examined, Brittany had asked Quinn to call Santana, but she hadn't made the call. If she told Santana that Brittany was in the emergency room, she would burst through the doors, not caring who saw her. It was hard enough trying to deflect their questions, but it would be impossible to explain Santana being there.

"No, but it's better than what would have happened if we did call," Quinn remarked.

"That's true," Rachel replied. "I doubt Santana would have listened to reason."

Quinn shook her head. "She usually doesn't when it comes to Brittany."

"Is there a Quinn Fabray here?"

Quinn looked over her shoulder to find a police officer standing at the entrance to the waiting room. "Yes."

"Can you come with me?" he asked.

Quinn glanced at Rachel and then followed the officer. He led them out of the waiting room and into an empty hallway, where he stopped and turned toward her.

"You were the one that found William Schuester," he said.

"I am," Quinn replied.

"Can you take me through what happened?" the officer asked.

"We were on the bus coming back from our Regionals competition when one of the tires went flat," Quinn said. "Mr. Schue got off the bus to see if he could change the tire. I was sitting there and I heard him yell, so I got off the bus to see if was okay. When I walked around the bus, I found him on the ground."

The officer pulled out a notepad and said, "So, he was unconscious when you found him?"

"Yes," Quinn said.

"Some of the other students on the bus said you were out there for quite some time," the office said, looking down at her.

"I was checking on him," Quinn lied.

The officer nodded. "Was there any blood around when you found him?"

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "I told you everything I remember, which isn't a lot; it was dark and I panicked when I saw him. I checked for a pulse and I tried to wake him up. One of my friends came out and then we tried to carry him to the bus, but he was heavy, so it took a while."

"Why didn't you ask someone else to help you?" the officer questioned.

"I told you I panicked," Quinn said. "I guess I wasn't thinking clearly."

The officer put his notepad in his pocket. "Alright, I think we're done for now; if I have any other questions, I'll contact you."

With a nod, Quinn walked through the hall and back into the waiting room. Rachel looked anxious while the others in the room were looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. The police officer bypassed everyone else, clearly not interested in questioning any of them, and walked away.

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked. "What did he want? You're not in trouble, are you?"

"He wanted to know what happened," Quinn answered.

"What did you say?" Rachel whispered.

"I lied," Quinn said. "What else could I do? I told him I found Mr. Schue like that."

"Did he seem like he believed you?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head. "Not really. I told him Mr. Schue was unconscious when I found him, so they can't really prove I saw anything beyond just finding him. Oh, and if he talks to you, you came out and tried to help me carry him onto the bus, but it took us a while."

"Okay." Rachel nodded. "Do you think he'll interrogate me?"

"I think if he was going to he would have done it tonight," Quinn replied.

"So he's only interested in talking to you," Rachel said.

Quinn shrugged. "It seems that way."

"What did the cop talk to you about?" Mercedes ask from across the room.

"He simply wanted to know what happened," Rachel answered for Quinn.

"And what _did_ happen?" Mercedes asked.

"I believe she already told you that while we were on the bus," Rachel replied.

"Can't Quinn talk?" Mercedes snapped.

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her eyebrow. "As Rachel said, I told you on the bus. It's not our problem if you can't remember."

"Oh, hell—"

"Dude, leave them alone," Puck interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Mercedes said, turning to him.

"It's been a long ass day and they already told you what happened, so why are you asking again?" Puck asked, standing up, and running a hand over his mohawk.

"Brittany," Rachel said, nudging Quinn.

"Is everything okay?" Tina asked.

"How's your head?" Rachel asked.

"They put me in this machine to check for something, but they told me I'm okay," Brittany said with a shrug. "How's Kurt."

"We don't know yet," Rachel answered.

"Can we go home?" Brittany asked.

"I can give you guys a ride," Puck volunteered.

"Tina, can you call me the moment you find out anything about Kurt or Mr. Schue?" Rachel asked.

Tina nodded. "I'll let you know."

"Thank you," Rachel replied.

"Am I taking you home or to Rachel's?" Puck asked Brittany.

"Rach's," Brittany replied.

Puck nodded. "And on the way, I wanna know what really happened."

* * *

><p>Puck dropped Quinn, Rachel, and Brittany off at the Berry house after hearing the full story of what happened when Quinn got off the bus. She was hesitant about telling them what the vampire said, but she ultimately decided they should know. Now they could be extra vigilant about being safe and watching their back.<p>

When they walked into the house, Leroy turned off the television and walking over to them, asking, "How did Regionals go?"

"We got second place," Rachel said with a sigh.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie," Leroy said, hugging her. "I wish I could have been there to see you; I'm sure you all were amazing."

"It's fine," Rachel replied. "I know you had to work."

"Is San home?" Brittany asked.

"I think she's downstairs," Leroy said, nodding toward the kitchen.

"Is it okay if Brittany stays the night?" Rachel asked.

Leroy laughed. "You don't usually ask, but yes." He kissed Rachel forehead. "I'm going to head to bed; I just wanted to stay up to see how it went."

"Night, Daddy," Rachel said, giving him a hug.

"Goodnight, girls," Leroy said, smiling at the two blondes.

"Night, Mr. Berry," Quinn and Brittany said in unison.

Quinn followed Brittany through the kitchen and into the basement, where Santana was sitting on her bed, watching something on the television. She stood up the moment Brittany reached the bottom of the steps, and Quinn was already preparing herself to be yelled at for not calling her the moment Brittany was in the accident

"What took you so long?" Santana asked.

"There was an accident," Rachel answered.

"What the hell kind of accident," Santana asked, looking Brittany up and down.

"The bus was—slightly attacked," Quinn replied.

"Out with it," Santana demanded.

"A vampire caused our tire to go flat and then attacked Mr. Schue when he got out," Brittany answered. "I hit my head a little bit on the window and had to go to the ER."

"Why the hell didn't you call me?!" Santana yelled, looking between Quinn and Rachel.

"Because you would have come to the hospital," Quinn replied.

"You're damn right I would have!" Santana said.

"Everyone was already questioning Quinn about what happened," Rachel said in a calm voice. "If you came, everyone would have had even more questions, and it would have been impossible to explain."

"I'm okay, San," Brittany said, taking the vampire's hand. "It's just a bump."

Santana was glaring at Quinn when she asked, "What exactly happened?"

"Shelby sent him," Quinn said, figuring that's what Santana wanted to know. "He came with a message that it was just the beginning and they were going to kill all my friends."

"Is Schue—"

"Alive," Quinn answered. "He's in the hospital; his pulse was really weak. I think the vampire would have killed him if I hadn't gotten off the bus when I did."

"You're staying tonight," Santana said, looking at Brittany. "And every other night until this bitch is dead."

"San—"

"And you're not stepping foot outside unless you're with Quinn or me," Santana added.

"I'm not helpless," Brittany said, pouting.

"I know, but it'll make me feel better," Santana said, her face softening.

"I wonder what we're going to do about everyone else," Rachel said with a sigh. "We need to warn them without actually telling them why. I don't think some of them will be inclined to go along with it, especially Mercedes and Kurt."

It was actually one of the things Quinn had been worrying about. How could she protect her friends when she couldn't tell them the truth? She didn't doubt Shelby would kill every last one of them if she could, but she wasn't going to let that happen. What she didn't understand was why. The only thing she could think of was that Shelby was just playing with her; she wanted Quinn to suffer before she finally killed—or tried to kill—her.

"I'm sure there's something we can do," Brittany replied.

Quinn sighed. "Maybe."

"Brittany's right," Rachel said, reaching out, and squeezing Quinn's hand. "We'll think of something to protect them. Maybe there's some sort of protection spell Brittany can put on everyone."

"I'll ask my mom if she knows any," Brittany said.

"Are you going to patrol tonight?" Rachel asked Quinn.

Quinn shook her head. "No. I'm going to research Shelby."

"Haven't we done that a shit ton already?" Santana asked.

"Not enough," Quinn replied. "I want to know everything there is to know about her."

"What if there is nothing to know?" Brittany asked.

"There has to be something," Quinn replied, looking over her shoulder at the picture Santana sketched for her.

There was something familiar about the vampire, but Quinn was fairly certain she had never come into contact with her. She had been looking at the picture a lot lately, memorizing Shelby's face. If the vampire ever came up to her like she did Santana, she wanted to know who she was dealing with.

Quinn knew it was just a matter of time before that happened, and she was tired of waiting around for it. She wanted to bring the fight to Shelby, but she didn't feel prepared enough. She still had no idea where Shelby was and didn't know enough about her to figure out where she might be staying.

"Would you like any help?" Rachel asked.

"You should probably get some sleep," Quinn replied. "It's been a long day."

"Yes, it had been a long day," Rachel said, sitting down. "Hand me a book, please."

"You're not going to bed?" Quinn asked in amusement.

"Sleep is overrated," Rachel said, smiling at her. "I'm at least going to stay awake until Tina calls about Kurt and Mr. Schue. If I don't, I'll just lie in bed and worry about them, which is not very conducive to sleep. So, I would rather be productive while I'm waiting."

"Here," Quinn said, handing Rachel one of Charles Dawson's diaries.

They had been over the Watcher's diaries multiple times, but Quinn still hoped they might be missing something—something that would give them some clue about the vampire.

* * *

><p>Rachel turned onto her side and flinched; she opened her eyes, rolling onto her back again. She rubbed at her shoulder, which she assumed was sore from slamming into Quinn when the bus swerved. It hadn't hurt at the time, but it felt bruised now, and it was very uncomfortable to lie on.<p>

It was still dark in the room, so Rachel looked at the clock to see what time it was. It was a little after five and she had only been asleep for three hours. Tina had called a bit before midnight to let her know that Kurt had gone home with a slight concussion and that Mr. Schue was going to be in the hospital for at least one night while he received a blood transfusion. Rachel still didn't immediately go to bed; she stayed up a while longer to finish reading Shelby's Watcher's diary. Eventually she started nodding off, though, and Quinn made her go upstairs to get some sleep.

The more she read the diary, the more she wanted to know what Shelby's life was like beyond the slaying. The diary she read was Shelby's second year as a Slayer, and her Watcher didn't say much beyond the demons she faced, how he trained her, and a few observations about her. Rachel wished it had gone into more detail about what Shelby was like personally. Even though she knew it would probably only make the situation worse, she couldn't help but wonder what Shelby was like when she was still human.

She knew it was pointless to think about, but she kept wondering what her life would have been like if Shelby hadn't died or hadn't been the Slayer. She loved her fathers dearly, but she had always wondered where she came from. She always thought it would be a comfort to learn who her biological parents were, but learning that Shelby was her mother had just made everything more complicated. It was the last thing she ever expected to find out, and even though it had been several months, it still hadn't fully sunk in.

Part of her wished she never found out. Every day she thought of the fact that she was lying to Quinn about it, and she had no idea if she was doing the right thing by not revealing the information. She didn't want it to distract Quinn, but she was also afraid it would come out anyway. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to tell Quinn, but after waiting so long, she didn't know how to tell her.

Rachel sighed and rubbed her eyes; she was apparently not going to fall back to sleep. She rolled onto her side again, wincing at the pain in her arm, and crawled out of bed. She padded across the room, opened her door, and walked into the hall. She walked up to Quinn's bedroom door and opened it, peeking inside, but Quinn's bed was still made, which probably meant the other girl never went to bed.

She went down stairs and walked down to the basement, where most of the lights were off except for the small one on the desk. Brittany was snoring softly in Santana's bed and the vampire was lying with her, her eyes open, and Quinn was still sitting at the desk.

"You didn't go to bed, did you?" Rachel whispered, walking up to the blonde.

"No," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"A bit after five," Rachel answered, sitting down on the edge of the desk.

"Can you let me know when it's time to leave?" Quinn asked.

Rachel tilted her head. "Leave for what?"

"School," Quinn replied

"Honey, it's Sunday," Rachel reminded her.

"Oh," Quinn said, frowning. "Right."

"You should really get some rest," Rachel said, reaching out, and moving a strand of hair behind Quinn's ear.

Quinn sighed. "I'll rest when Shelby's dead."

"That could be a while," Rachel said softly. "I know you're the Slayer and you don't need as much as sleep as everyone else, but you still do need rest. We barely got any sleep last night because we were so busy making up for last rehearsal time, so I know you have to be exhausted."

"I'm fine," Quinn replied.

"Please sleep," Rachel begged. "The books will still be here in a few hours."

"Alright," Quinn sighed and closed the book in front of her, "I'll sleep for a little while."

"Good," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn's hand, and pulling her out of the chair.

Rachel silently led her up the stairs, through the kitchen and hallway, and up to the second floor. Instead of going to Quinn's room, though, Rachel took her to her own room. She turned on the light on her nightstand and then went over to fix the covers since she had apparently tossed and turned a lot in her sleep.

"Don't let me sleep past eight," Quinn said, crawling into Rachel's bed once the brunette was done.

"I can't guarantee I will be awake by then," Rachel said, pulling back the covers, and getting into bed.

Quinn sighed and rubbed at her eyes again; she looked so tired and Rachel was glad she agreed to get some sleep. Even if she was awake at eight, she very much doubted she would actually wake Quinn up. She couldn't remember the last time the blonde got more than several hours of sleep, and it was obvious it was beginning to take its toll. The fact alone that Quinn thought they had school later in the day was a bit concerning and proof that she was sleep deprived.

"Goodnight," Quinn said through a yawn as Rachel turned off the light.

"Night, Quinn," Rachel said, smiling softly when Quinn wrapped an arm around her.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked down the mostly empty hallway with Rachel by her side. They were at school early, but she wanted to get an early start on training. She was aware she was obsessing a bit, but she was more determined than ever to be ready for Shelby. After getting up after a few hours' sleep, she spent the rest of Sunday combing through the Watcher's diaries and then went out patrolling most of the night. It was a very slow night, though, and she only came upon one vampire, but instead of killing it, she followed the vampire around for a while. She hoped he could possibly lead her to wherever Shelby was holed up, but he ended up going into a crypt and not coming out.<p>

"Maybe we could tell them that there's a meteor that's going to come over Lima and if anyone's outside when it happens, it will do something horrible to them."

Quinn frowned and looked at Rachel. "What?"

"To get them to stay inside," Rachel replied.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh. "Don't you think something like that would be on the news?"

"We can say we read it on the internet, but the traditional news outlets don't believe it, so they're not reporting on it," Rachel suggested, glancing at Quinn. "Don't look at me like that; I'm sure some of them will believe it."

"Finn probably would, but I don't think any of the rest would," Quinn replied, pulling out her keys to open the training room door, but the door looked like it was already slightly ajar.

"Well, we need to think of something and every idea we've come up with has sounded ridiculous," Rachel said, sighing.

"Yeah, but—" Quinn paused at the sight in front of her, causing Rachel to run into her back.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked. "Oh my."

Quinn's eyes were locked onto to the message written on the wall. The blood had dripped down the wall, but it still distinctly said 'I told you it was just the beginning' with what looked like some symbol beneath it.

"Is that Logan?" Rachel whispered.

"What?" Quinn asked, still looking at the wall.

"From Glee," Rachel said.

"Who are you—"

Quinn looked down and saw the body near the right side of the room. His neck had clearly been bitten and all of his blood had been drained. Quinn took a deep breath and stepped out of the room, pulling Rachel with her, and closing the door behind them. Sue wouldn't be there for a while, but she knew the coach would be out on the football field with the Cheerios.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked. "Shouldn't we call the police?"

"We will," Quinn replied. "Later. Coach Sylvester needs to see the room first because once we call the police, they'll be here in a few minutes and will never let us back inside. We need to get the weapons out of the room and probably the books; if they see it as it is, we'll never be able to explain it, and Sue will get in trouble for having weapons inside the school."

"I-I can't believe he's dead," Rachel said. "We were just with him on Saturday and now he's—he's—"

"I know," Quinn said, reaching out, and squeezing her hand.

They walked to the football field in silence; Quinn's mind was reeling from what she saw and Rachel's face was ashen. Neither of them was very close with the boy—he was only in Glee because of whatever Puck said to him, and he wasn't the most social person—but it was always a shock when anyone died. Especially when you find someone the way they found him.

"Sloppy!" Sue shouted. "My dead grandmother is more coordinated than you! I'm ashamed to call you cheerleaders! No civilians on the field!"

Quinn ignored the fact that the last part was directed at her and Rachel and walked up to her. Sue looked like she was about to say something into her megaphone again, but she hesitated and took it away from her mouth.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Someone's dead," Quinn answered. "This kid that's in Glee with us, Logan. His body is in the training room and there's a message on the wall."

"Have you called the police?" Sue asked.

"No," Quinn replied.

"Good." Sue brought the megaphone up to her mouth again. "Fifty laps, and when you're done with those do fifty more! Pierce, you're in charge while I'm gone!"

Sue walked ahead of them, leading them back to the school and into the training room. She slowed as she walked inside, taking in the scene in the training room. Quinn looked at the wall again, trying to figure out what the symbol on the wall meant, but it just looked like a crescent moon with seven stars to her, which meant nothing. The stars weren't even in any discernible pattern that she could tell.

"That symbol," Sue said, walking closer to the wall.

"Do you know what it means?" Rachel asked.

Sue nodded. "Can you grab Signum Occultum?" She pointed toward the locked trunk and handed Quinn a key. "I want to be sure."

Quinn frowned and walked over, unlocking the trunk, and rifling through until she found the book. She stood up and handed it to Sue, who immediately opened it and started flipping through the pages until she finally stopped and stared at one of the pages.

"What is it?" Rachel asked.

"I was hoping I was wrong," Sue said, looking up. "It's the Amulet of Dratheon."

"What's the amulet do?" Quinn asked.

"It means we're all going to die," Sue stated.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked, and Sue handed her the book: she looked down at the book and Quinn watched as Rachel's frown grew. "But—it says the amulet has been missing for centuries. What makes you think Shelby has it?"

"Because this book is over seven hundred years old and it's the only copy that was made," Sue replied. "It is also the only record of what the Amulet of Dratheon looks like. The only way anyone would know what it looks like—"

"Is if they have the amulet," Quinn finished.

* * *

><p>When Quinn walked into Glee, she looked around at her friends; most of them were there, but there were still a few missing. She was surprised any of them had agreed to come since she was the one that called the meeting. Mr. Schue was still in the hospital—Rachel went to Miss Pillsbury's office during lunch to ask about him—and their competition season was over, so she really didn't think anyone would be there. After what happened that morning, though, she knew she needed to talk to them. She needed to warn them; she didn't want what happened to Logan to any of the rest of them.<p>

Once they got the books and weapons out of the training room and into Sue's office, they called the police. Sue lied and said she was the one who found the boy since Quinn had just been questioned about Mr. Schue, and none of them thought it would be a good idea to have her find another attack—this time a murder—only two days after the other.

The police were very interested in the message on the wall, but Sue lied about that as well. After questioning her for nearly an hour, they finally let her go; she then called the Council to inform them of all the newfound information, and Quinn hadn't seen her since she went off to make the call.

"What are we doing here?" Mercedes asked.

"Finn and Mike aren't here," Quinn said.

"So?" Mercedes asked. "Some of us have better things to do."

"Mercedes—shut up," Rachel said.

Quite a few of the people in the room started laughing and Quinn's eyebrows rose in surprise. Mercedes' jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed; right when she was about to say something, the two remaining Glee members walked in and Quinn cleared her throat.

"Alright!" Quinn said, interrupting whatever tirade Mercedes was probably going to go on.

"What's going on?" Artie asked. "And aren't we missing someone."

Quinn closed her eyes for a moment; she really didn't want to have to do this, but she had no other choice. "I'm sure most of you heard about a student found killed on campus this morning. It was Logan."

"That weird, quiet kid?" Kurt asked.

"First Mr. Schue and now him?" Tina said. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Quinn lied.

"Why are we even here?" Finn asked.

"Guys, if you will just calm down and listen, Quinn will explain," Rachel said, raising her voice a bit.

"Okay, I know this isn't going to make a lot of sense, but as soon as you leave here, I want you to go home and not leave your houses until morning," Quinn said, looking around at everyone. "And if anyone knocks, don't answer the—"

"Why should we do that?" Kurt interrupted. "Some of us might have plans for tonight."

Puck snorted. "Right."

"I could," Kurt said, frowning, but then wincing and rubbing at the bandage on his forehead.

"Why do you want us to stay at home?" Tina asked.

"It's—hard to explain," Quinn said.

She and Rachel had never come up with a plausible explanation for why she was asking them to do this. Everything they thought of was even more ridiculous than the previous reason, so Quinn eventually decided to just ask them to do it. She still hoped they feared her a bit from her time as a Cheerio and would do as she told them. It was a long shot, but it was better than telling them the thing about the meteor or the idea of a toxic fog coming into town. Quinn had to try, though; she knew Shelby's minions would go after one or more of them next and she couldn't let another one of her friends die.

"You want us to go home and stay inside and you, like, won't even tell us why?" Finn asked.

"Quinn probably has a good reason," Brittany chimed in.

"One she isn't telling us," Mercedes remarked.

"Does this have anything to do with what happened to Mr. Schue?" Tina asked.

"How could it?" Mercedes asked, staring at Quinn. "She claims she went out and found him like he was, so she wouldn't know anything about what happened, would she?"

"Dude, just do what she says," Puck demanded.

"Why should we?" Mercedes asked.

"Because you're idiots if you don't," Puck replied. "She wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important."

Everyone was silent; they may not be afraid of her anymore, but she knew most of the less popular students in the room were still afraid of Puck. She noticed Artie looked around and then he started rolling toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked.

"I'm going home," Artie replied. "And not coming out until morning."

"You're really going to go along with this crazy ass thing?" Mercedes scoffed.

"If Quinn's asking us to do it, she probably has a reason," Artie replied.

"He's right," Mike said, standing up, and shouldering his bag. "It's not like my parents let me go wondering the streets at night anyway."

Mercedes stood up with a roll of her eyes and walked out of the room; Quinn didn't know if she would listen to her, but there wasn't much else she could do about it. Crystal and Finn followed; the former shrugged at her on the way out and Quinn knew Finn would do it since Puck told him to. Plus, she knew what his nights were like; even when they were dating, he would stay at home and play video games unless she demanded he take her out.

Kurt sighed, grabbed his stuff, and as he walked past her, he said, "Fine."

Tina was the only one left in the room; Quinn, Rachel, Puck, and Brittany all looked at her, but she continued to sit. She was there for several minutes before she finally stood.

"You can trust me, you know," Tina said before grabbing her bag and walking out of the choir room.

"What did Tina mean?" Brittany asked, frowning.

"I don't know," Quinn lied.

"Noah, do you want to come over and help us with some research?" Rachel asked.

Puck shrugged. "I doubt I'll be much help, but I'll come."

"Good," Rachel said, nodding. "It will probably be for the better if we'll all in the same spot. Are you ready?"

Quinn hummed and then looked at Rachel. "Yeah."

"Come on," Rachel said, holding out her hand.

"Can we pick up some food on the way?" Puck asked.

"Sure," Rachel replied. "I imagine this is going to be a very long night."

* * *

><p>While the three girls went to get food to bring home, Puck went home for a few minutes, wanting to make sure his family didn't answer the door for anyone. When they arrived at her house, the driveway was empty, which meant Puck wasn't there yet and neither was Leroy. Rachel hoped her father would be back before dark, but lately he had been coming home at a decent hour, so she wasn't too worried. She was more worried about the other members of New Directions. They were who Shelby was going after and most of them didn't seem very receptive to staying in.<p>

She didn't even understand why they were arguing with Quinn. It was a Monday night and most of them would have probably stayed in anyways. Mercedes had especially annoyed her; the girl seemed to be very combative lately and Rachel didn't understand it. Yes, she and Mercedes often butted heads a bit since they were both self-described divas, but Rachel didn't like the other girl's attitude towards Quinn recently.

As the three walked down the stairs to the basement, she thought she heard Puck's truck pull into the driveway. Even if he said he wasn't very good at it, she was glad he was going to be there to help them with the research. Right now, they needed all the help they could get. Miss Sylvester gave them all the books she had that mentioned the Amulet of Dratheon, which was quite a few, but apparently none of them had much information on the amulet. Still, they needed to go through the books, pull all the information together, and hopefully figure out when this was happening and how to stop it.

"What took you so long?" Santana asked.

"We got food," Brittany said, holding up the two bags of Chinese food.

"Did you get those eggrolls I like?" Santana asked.

"See, I told you she'd want them," Brittany said brightly.

"Why wouldn't I want them?" the vampire asked with a scowl.

"Santana, you drink blood," Quinn replied.

"That doesn't mean I _can't_ eat," Santana replied as Brittany handed her one of the cartons.

Quinn rolled her eyes and said, "Research while you eat."

"Research what?" Santana mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"When we talked into the training room this morning, we found a student dead," Rachel said. "He was one of the members of New Directions. There was a message on the wall in his blood that said 'I told you it was just the beginning'. It was clearly from Shelby, and she or one of her followers also drew a symbol on the wall.

"Miss Sylvester knew the symbol; it is an amulet that will bring about the end of the world. It's been lost for hundreds of years, but we think Shelby has it and she's going to try to bring about the apocalypse. So, we need to figure out as much as we can about this amulet and figure out if there's a way we can stop her."

"Why would she draw this thing on the wall?" Santana asked. "Why would you let the Slayer know what you're going to do? Isn't that a really stupid thing to do?"

"She wants to kill me," Quinn stated.

Santana scoffed. "But destroying the world would kill you."

"Ever since I became the Slayer, she's been testing me," Quinn replied. "I think this is a game to her, and she wants to kill me, not any of her minions. She could have attacked me at any time, but she's waited for a reason. When I fought that lackey of hers, he said that he was going to tell her I was ready for her. She didn't want to kill me when I was just learning I was the Slayer; she wants to kill me when I'm at my full power just to say she could. She's wrong about one thing, though."

"What's that?" Brittany asked.

"She isn't going to kill me," Quinn stated. "I'm going to kill her."

"You don't even know where she is," Santana said, raising her eyebrow.

"Yet," Quinn said, throwing a book next to Santana. "Read while you eat."

"Finn's being a dumbass," Puck said the moment he opened the basement door.

"No surprise there," Quinn mumbled.

"He's called me three times asking if I wanna hang tonight," Puck said, stomping down the steps.

"Did you at least get to warn your mom?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, she's gonna stay in tonight," Puck replied with a shrug. "Food?"

Brittany handed him one of the bags and then sat down next to Santana, grabbing the book Quinn had thrown, and putting it in her lap. She then looked up with furrowed brows and said, "I'm worried about everyone. What if they don't listen and go out?"

"Well, hopefully they do listen," Rachel said, sighing. "But if they don't, we've done everything we could. Noah, grab that whiteboard and set it up; any time we find something about the amulet, we'll write it on there. That way we won't waste our time with duplicate information."

"Can I eat first?" Puck asked.

"Noah, the amulet is supposed to bring about the end of the world," Rachel said, staring at him.

Puck frowned. "Is that a no?"

Rachel put her hands on her hips, looking at him until he ducked his head, set his carton of food down, and walked over to the whiteboard.

"You have been very bossy today," Quinn said, laughing lightly.

"Have I?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said before lowering her voice. "It's kind of hot, actually."

Rachel blushed. "We really should get down to work."

* * *

><p>Quinn glanced up when Rachel jerked awake; she had fallen asleep a few hours ago, but Quinn didn't have the heart to wake her. She didn't know what time it was, but she figured it had to be some time in the early morning. Rachel was actually the second to pass out; Puck fell asleep not too long before her. Brittany was still awake but barely, and Quinn couldn't stop yawning.<p>

"How long have I been asleep?" Rachel asked, rubbing her eyes.

"A little while," Quinn replied.

"You should have woke me," Rachel said.

Quinn shrugged. "You were tired."

"Noah!" Rachel said, nudging him in the ribs.

"I'm awake," Puck said after nearly falling out of his chair.

Rachel looked at the board and asked, "Have you found anything new."

"No," Quinn said, rubbed at her eyes.

Quinn looked up at the board; they had found some useful information, but there was still a lot that they didn't know. There was no indication when the ritual was supposed to take place—as far as they knew it could happen anytime Shelby decided to do it—and they had no clue what the actual ritual involved. There were several mentions of it happening during the 'dark days', but no one had any idea what that meant.

"What is that noise?" Rachel asked, looking around.

"I think it's your phone," Quinn replied.

"Oh," Rachel said, laughing lightly. "Right." Rachel riffled through her bag, pulling out her phone. "I have three missed calls."

"Yeah, it's been doing that a lot, but I thought it was better if you slept," Quinn replied.

"Hello." Rachel stood, walking a few foot away.

Quinn looked down at her book and flipped the page. So far the book had been useless, but she was still going through it since it was one of the books her Watcher gave her, so it was supposed to have at least some mention of the amulet. She flipped to the next page and scrunched her nose at the picture of how some child killing demon killed its victims.

"Do you know what time it is?" Rachel asked.

Quinn looked up to see the brunette was talking to her. "No, why?"

"That was Tina," Rachel said, holding up her phone. "She was wondering what she should do since it's past time to be at school and it's still dark out."

Quinn frowned. "What?"

"It's after nine," Rachel replied.

Quinn sat back in her seat and looked out one of the windows that were uncovered. It was still completely dark out, but if it was after nine, the sun should be up.

"Did you say it's school time?" Brittany asked, standing up from Santana's bed, and walking over to them.

"I'm going to guess school is probably cancelled today," Rachel said.

Brittany furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"And even if it's not, I don't think it matters if we skip it," Quinn commented, and everyone looked at her. "Dark days—I think they meant literally."

"You think this—" Rachel stopped and looked at the window. "We definitely need to go through these books faster. Noah!"

"What?" Puck mumbled.

"The world is coming to an end very soon and I would appreciate it if you would help us to stop it," Rachel said, scowling at him.

Puck opened his eyes and asked, "Did I miss something?"

"Yes, the sun did not rise, which means the end of the world is nigh," Rachel replied.

"I think it's more important that we find Shelby," Quinn said.

She knew it wouldn't do them much good to know everything about the amulet if they couldn't find Shelby to stop her. She thought they would have more time than this, but the apocalypse was clearly coming soon, and they weren't much further along than they were the day before. Even though she knew they were doing everything they could, it was still frustrating that they knew so little. Shelby was always several steps ahead of them, and no matter hard Quinn tried, she was still always behind.

"Can I see your phone?" Quinn suddenly asked, getting an idea.

"Sure," Rachel said, looking confused. "Who are you calling?"

Quinn didn't answer as she scrolled through Rachel's contact list and brought the phone to her ear. The phone rang several times before there was click on the end.

"Hello?"

"Can you come to Rachel's?" Quinn asked. "We can use your help."

There was a pause on the other end and then Tina asked, "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Would you believe me if I told you the end of the world?" Quinn replied

"I'll be there in a half an hour," Tina said after another pause.

"Be careful," Quinn said. "If you see anyone around, don't leave your house. And call me, so I can come by and get you. And when you go out, make sure you have something wooden—maybe a sharpened wooden spoon."

"What?" Tina asked, sounding confused.

"Just do it and I'll explain when you get here," Quinn instructed.

"Okay," Tina replied. "I'll find something."

Quinn ended the call and looked up. "Who else do you think we should call?"

* * *

><p><strong>Obviously there is only one chapter left of this story, but there is going to be a sequel. I have the sequel outlined already, including a contingency plan to make it essentially like a half season. I know there has been a drop in interest—reviews have been significantly down for this story, barely reaching double digits for the last few chapters—but I was at the point of no return as far as the sequel. So, regardless, there will be a sequel, but it may only be 12 or 13 chapters instead of 22. I do have a full 22 chapter story outlined, though, so I'll just have to see how it goes.<strong>

**Thank you to everyone that has stuck with the story. Chapter 22 is supposed to be up on August 20****th****, but if I get it done before then, I'll probably post it early since it is the final chapter.**


	22. Consequences, Part 2

**aryousavvy: That's exactly where I got it from. I love the show (well, the first two seasons; I never made it past the first ep of season 3) and had been dying to use it as a title for something.**

**badger2nole: I know reviews aren't a perfect way to judge interest, but it's really the only way I do have to judge it.**

**Thank you to everyone else for your comments; they mean a lot.**

**Now, enjoy the final chapter…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22 – Consequences, Part 2<strong>

Quinn sat on Santana's bed as she flipped through the channels. It didn't take long for her to find one of the channels with breaking news about the blackout of the sun. Unlike time standing still, the blackout wasn't just affecting Lima—it seemed as if it was affecting the whole world. As she continued flipping through the networks, every single one had news of the sun being obscured by an unknown force. Most were speculating that it was a solar eclipse, though none of the newscasters could explain why no one knew it was coming.

"Any news?" Rachel asked, walking up beside the television.

"Just a lot of confusion," Quinn said, sighing as she turned it off.

"Do you think Tina will be here soon?" Rachel asked, looking at the clock. "You don't think anything happened to her, do you? Maybe we should have driven to her house to get her."

"It's only been ten minutes, Rachel," Quinn said, smiling softly.

"Right," Rachel said, blushing lightly.

Quinn still wondered if they should call anyone else, but Rachel reasoned that no one else would probably believe them. Quinn knew it was probably true; Tina had been suspicious for some time, but no one else really seemed to realize what was going on. Sure some of them seemed a little suspicious, but not to the extent that Tina was. Plus, knowing the rest of them, they would probably just hide instead of actually helping to try to save the world.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

"What?" Rachel said, looking at her.

"Are you okay?" Quinn repeated.

"Oh, yes," Rachel said, ducking her head. "I should probably get back to researching."

With that, Rachel walked away, and Quinn stared after her. She didn't know what it was, but Rachel seemed a little off lately. It wasn't all the time; most of the time she seemed like her normal self. But there were times when Quinn could tell something was on her girlfriend's mind. She had tried asking about it more than once, but Rachel always said she was fine or it was nothing. Quinn could tell it wasn't nothing, though. Normally she would have chalked it up to news of the world ending, but this had been going on longer than that. This had been happening for the past few months.

"Are you going to get your ass over here and help us?" Santana said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Quinn stretched as she stood; she felt like she needed a break, but she knew she didn't have time for that. Time was everything right now, and every minute mattered. She just wished they would find something soon; after researching the whole night, they still knew very little and it was frustrating.

When she walked over to the rest of the group, Santana held out a book for her, which she practically threw at Quinn. As she began to sit down, though, the doorbell rang and she paused.

"I'll get it," she said, straightening up. "It's probably Tina."

She hoped it was, anyway. She quickly ran up the stairs and hurriedly walked to the front door, not wanting Tina to be outside any longer than necessary. When she opened the door, Tina was looking over her shoulder and then looked at her nervously.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know if I'm just being paranoid, but ever since I left the house, I've felt like I'm being watched," Tina replied.

Quinn pulled the other girl in and looked around. "I don't see anyone."

"So I am being paranoid," Tina said.

"Being paranoid is a good thing in this town," Quinn remarked. "And no, you're probably not just being paranoid; there probably has been something watching you."

"Will you explain to me why I have this," Tina said, holding up a wooden spoon that looked like its end had been whittled to a sharpened point.

"Come with me," Quinn said, nodding toward the kitchen.

She walked through the house with Tina following her, and when she opened the door to the basement, she let Tina go down first. Quinn knew this was going to be a shock—even if Tina was suspicious, no one expects to hear that vampires and demons exist—and she figured it would be easier if she showed her rather than told her.

"Oh my god!" Tina said, stopping on the bottom step. "What? How?"

Quinn joined Tina at the bottom of the steps and followed her gaze to Santana. "It's a long story."

"Santana's alive," Tina said, not taking her eyes off the other girl.

"Well, not exactly," Quinn replied.

Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm a vampire, okay? Great. Now that that's settled—"

"A vampire," Tina repeated.

"It's true," Brittany chimed in.

"Lima's on the mouth to hell," Quinn stated.

"Not really a shocker considering this place is a hellhole," Puck inserted.

"Supernatural things tend to gravitate toward here," Quinn continued. "Vampires, demons," she looked at Brittany, "witches."

"The vampire that turned Santana is trying to destroy the world," Rachel explained. "We don't know a lot, but we do know it's happening soon. We do know it involves something called the Amulet of Dratheon and several books have referred to the dark days."

"Which are clearly here," Santana remarked.

"I called you because we need all the help we can get," Quinn said, looking at Tina. "You said you wanted to know what's going on, so now you know."

"Here," Santana said, holding up a book.

Tina looked a little dazed as she walked over and took the book. She also looked highly suspicious of Santana and didn't take her eyes off the vampire as she walked to the nearest seat with the book in her hand.

"What exactly am I looking for?" Tina asked.

"Anything about the amulet," Rachel answered.

Tina frowned. "What was it called, again?"

"Amulet of Dratheon," Rachel replied.

"I knew this town was weird, but this is not what I was expecting," Tina mumbled as she opened up the book.

Rachel walked up to Quinn, took her hand, and asked, "What are you thinking?"

Quinn sighed. "I'm thinking that I'm glad we have more help, but if we don't find Shelby, none of this research is going to matter."

"We'll find her, and we'll stop her," Rachel stated.

"You sound awfully certain," Quinn replied.

Rachel smiled softly at her. "I don't think you'll let anything happen to us, so you'll stop it."

"I hope so," Quinn whispered.

* * *

><p>Rachel looked at the clock and realized it was past noon and no one in the room—except maybe Tina—had eaten since the previous evening. While she didn't want to stop helping with the research, she thought it might be more prudent to go fix lunch for everyone. They needed to eat if they were going to continue working like this. Quinn in particular was going to need to keep her strength up; no one knew when she was going to have to face Shelby.<p>

"I'm going to go make lunch," Rachel said, putting her book to the side. "Any sandwich preferences?"

"Whatever you want to make," Quinn replied.

"Same," Tina said, shrugging.

"Peanut butter and jelly," Brittany answered.

"Whatever," Puck replied. "Food's food."

"I don't need to ask what you want," Rachel said, looking at Santana.

"Make sure you heat it up more this time," Santana demanded.

Rachel scrunched her nose in disgust; she hated fixing Santana's blood for her, but she did offer to get everyone lunch.

"Do you want any help?" Quinn asked.

"I've got it," Rachel said, giving her girlfriend a smile.

After Rachel grabbed a pint of blood from the fridge, she walked up to the kitchen; along the way, she heard Santana mocking Quinn for offering her help and she was pretty sure she heard whipping noises. Rachel rolled her eyes, knowing Santana would have asked the same thing if it had been Brittany. When she entered the kitchen, she immediately set to work making everyone's lunch.

She was halfway through when she glanced out the window; it was weird seeing it so dark out when it was after noon. It wasn't even like an eclipse; the sun wasn't just blocked, it was completely gone. She knew it was obviously not really gone or they would all be dead, but she couldn't see a single part of it.

Rachel wished she had realized what was going on sooner, so she could have stopped her father from going into work. She had already lost one father that she never was able to say goodbye to and she was afraid that was going to happen again. She thought about calling him and asking him to come home, but she really didn't want to worry him. Still, when he called to check on them, asking if they had gone to school, she almost begged him to leave work.

As she absentmindedly added some mustard to Puck's sandwich, her phone started vibrating, snapping her out of her thoughts. She put the down and pulled it out of her pajama pants pocket. Mercedes name was on the screen and she frowned, wondering what the other girl could possible want. Suddenly, Rachel felt as if there was a lump in her throat. Mercedes never called her, so her first thought was something must have happened to someone.

"Hello," Rachel said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Okay, what the hell is going on with this whole sun thing?" Mercedes asked loudly.

"What?" Rachel asked. "Is everyone alright?"

"Don't you ignore my question," Mercedes replied. "Ya'll told us to stay inside until morning, but the damn sun never came up."

"So, everyone is okay?" Rachel clarified.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Mercedes asked.

Rachel took a deep breath and slowly released it, hoping to calm her heart. She really thought something must have happened to one of their friends and she felt like she was still on the verge of a panic attack.

"Mercedes, I don't know what's going on," Rachel lied. "Why don't you watch the news? I'm sure they have some theories about it."

"Don't give me that," Mercedes said, huffing. "You and Quinn have to know something; why else would you tell us to stay inside?"

"Mercedes, I can assure you that neither Quinn nor I knew this was going to happen," Rachel said honestly. "I know it's weird—we all think so, too—but I really don't know what is happening. What Quinn said before still stands; make sure you stay in your house and don't open the door for anyone you don't know. Actually, you probably shouldn't open the door for anyone at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I have lunch to make and some studying to do."

"Wha—"

Rachel quickly hung up on Mercedes and set her phone on the counter. As she put the slice of bread on Puck's chicken sandwich, her phone started vibrating again and she looked to see that it was Mercedes again. She ignored the call and set Puck's food aside to make herself something to eat. She looked in the refrigerator and noticed the leftovers her father put in the other day and grabbed them to heat up. While her food was in the microwave, she ran downstairs with everyone else's food, and then came back up to get hers and heat Santana's blood up.

Scrunching her nose in disgust again, she pulled her lunch out of the microwave and put Santana's pint of blood in. Instead of waiting for it, she grabbed a fork from the drawer and went downstairs to the basement.

"Santana, your blood is in the microwave," Rachel said as she stepped off the stairs.

"Everyone else gets there's delivered and I have to get mine?" Santana said, narrowing her eyes. "Fine, whatever; just remember that I know where you sleep."

"She wouldn't do anything to you, would she?" Tina whispered to her as Santana left the room.

"No," Rachel replied before frowning. "I don't think so, anyway."

* * *

><p>"I found something," Tina said, sitting up straighter in her seat. "While the amulet has not been seen in centuries, there are many rumors about its current location. Its last confirmed whereabouts was with an English nobleman."<p>

"We know it's here," Santana stated.

"There's more," Tina said, sighing.

"Skip ahead, then," Santana demanded.

Tina rolled her eyes. "Though its full powers have never been documented, the amulet is believed to remove the souls of the living, leaving them to spend an eternity in a hell dimension."

Everyone sat in silence; it was the first thing that mentioned what the amulet actually did. Quinn wondered how accurate it was, but real or not, it probably wasn't far from the truth. She knew it was going to bring about the apocalypse, but hearing that their souls were going to be sucked out made it even more real.

"Can I see the book," Rachel asked, and Tina handed it over.

"What are you looking for?" Quinn asked.

"I was wondering if the amulet removes souls one by one or if it does it all at once," Rachel said as her eyes roamed over the page. "Unfortunately, it doesn't really indicate either way."

"Does it really matter?" Puck asked.

Rachel sighed and handed the book back to Tina. "Probably not, but I figure we would have more time if the amulet only worked on one person at a time."

Quinn looked at the clock; it was a little after six. They had been at this for the past day, but still knew very little. Her Watcher had called while they were eating lunch; she had been in touch with the Watcher's Council, but they didn't know much more than Quinn did. They did know that the ritual to activate the amulet was complex and that the blackout was just the first step to it, but no one knew what any of the other steps were. Sue was working on figuring out what she could and still trying to get the Council to bring in reinforcement, but apparently there was something going on in California as well that they were having to deal with.

As Quinn looked down at her own book again, a scream from upstairs made her freeze. After a moment, she jumped out of her seat and bolted up the stairs. When she ran into the kitchen, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of Brittany standing on the island, looking at something Quinn couldn't see.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

"What's wrong, B?" Santana asked, pushing past Quinn.

"I'm sorry," she heard another voice say. "I didn't mean to scare anyone."

"Myk?" Quinn said, furrowing her brows as she walked further into the kitchen.

"Did that little furry bastard hurt you?" Santana asked, heading for the little demon with a scowl on her face.

"Leave him alone," Quinn said, grabbing the vampire's arm to stop her. "What are you doing here? And how did you get inside the house?"

"The door," Myk said, pointing over his shoulder.

Quinn frowned. "I thought I locked it."

"It was," Myk replied.

"I don't want to know," Quinn said, shaking her head. "What are you doing here?"

"Wait, is this the demon that helped you when we all vanished?" Rachel asked from behind Quinn.

"He looks like an Ewok," Puck spoke up.

"Yes, this is him," Quinn replied, ignoring Puck's comment.

"If you hurt Britts—"

"He didn't hurt me," Brittany interrupted her girlfriend. "He just scared me."

"He's good at sneaking up on people," Quinn commented.

"I'm sorry I screamed," Brittany said, hopping down from the island. "I didn't scare you, did I?"

Myk shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"Okay, now can you tell me what you're doing here?" Quinn asked again.

"Do you know what's going on?" Myk asked.

"Sort of," Quinn replied.

"You have to stop it," Myk stated.

"What do you think we're trying to do?" Santana asked, sneering.

"You've been sitting down there all day," Myk said, nodding toward the basement.

"We have no idea where Shelby is or how to stop her," Quinn replied. "We've been trying to research where she might be."

"I know where she is," Myk said, looking up at her.

"You-you do?" Rachel stuttered.

Myk nodded. "I can take you there."

"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Puck asked.

"If Mistress Shelby kills all of your kind, who do you think they will come after next?" Myk asked. "My people were enslaved for many years and they will be again if the vampire wins."

"Why's that?" Puck asked.

"Because the demon world thrives on conflict, and with no humans around to kill, they will turn on each other," Myk explained. "My kind does not possess the strength or ability to fight against them. They dragged us from our den in the woods to do their bidding many centuries ago and they will do so once again if there is no one to stop the vampire."

"Can you take me to her?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Myk replied.

Quinn nodded. "Any idea when everything is going down?"

"No," Myk said, shaking his head. "All I know is that it has begun."

"Okay," Quinn said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm going to get some stuff together and then we can go."

"I still say it's a trap," Puck said. "He could be working for Shelby."

Quinn knew it could be a trap, but she didn't think it was. Myk might be a demon, yet she trusted him; she couldn't even really explain it, but something in her gut told her he was telling the truth. If Shelby wanted her to come, she could send anyone to come get her or easily reveal where she was. No, she knew Myk was telling the truth, and now she was finally going to come face to face with Shelby.

* * *

><p>As Quinn stared at her arsenal of weapons, she wondered what she might need. She obviously couldn't take everything—she had far too many for that—but she was afraid she would leave behind something she would need. Grabbing multiple stakes, she threw them into her leather messenger bag, and then grabbed several bottles of holy water and some crosses.<p>

"Are you sure about this?"

Quinn looked over her should at Rachel. "What's there to be sure about?"

"Noah is right," Rachel said, leaning against the banister. "It could be a trap."

"It probably is," Quinn replied. "But that doesn't mean _he's_ leading me into a trap. He already helped me once; I trust him."

"You're not even going to think about this?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed sardonically. "What is there to think about? I'm the only one who can stop Shelby. Yes, I might die tonight, but if I don't go, everyone is going to die."

"I just—" Rachel looked away. "I wish we had more time."

"Me too," Quinn said softly.

"This isn't fair," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"No one ever said life is fair," Quinn replied, walking up to Rachel.

"Clearly," Rachel said, wiping at a tear that had fallen onto her cheek. "You're sixteen years old. The fate of the world shouldn't be on your shoulders."

"It has to be on someone's," Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel sighed. "I suppose I should go pack up some supplies for myself."

"Actually," Quinn looked away, knowing that what she was about to say wasn't going to go over well, "I think I should do this alone."

"What!" Rachel yelled, causing Quinn to flinch.

"Quinn Fabray, there is no way I am going to let you face Shelby alone," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips. "I can't even believe you would think I would let you go by yourself!"

"Dude, what's all the yelling about?" Puck asked, opening the door to the basement.

"Quinn thinks she is going to fight Shelby by herself," Rachel replied.

"We would never let you go alone," Brittany said, appearing next to Puck.

Quinn sighed. "This isn't up for discussion."

"Of course this is up for discussion," Rachel replied. "Some of us have been helping you since you learned you were the Slayer. We might not all have special abilities like you do, but that doesn't mean we can't be useful."

"I didn't say you weren't," Quinn said in exasperation.

"We are a team," Rachel stated.

"Rach is right," Brittany said, nodding. "We can't let you go alone."

"I just don't want any of you to die," Quinn quietly said.

"And we don't want you to die," Rachel replied.

Quinn knew it was never going to work, but she had to try. It would be the easiest way if any of them wanted to back out, which she wouldn't blame them for. This was her calling, not theirs. She had no choice—if she didn't fight Shelby, no one would—but none of them asked for this. Her biggest fear was that she was going to get one of them killed; it already happened to Santana and she was not going to let it happen to any of the rest of them.

"You know we will all die if you fail," Rachel continued. "I'm not saying you will, but I am saying that you will be more likely to succeed with our combined efforts and you know it. I know Slayers are supposed to only depend on themselves, but you don't have to do that. You have people who love you and are willing to do anything to help you. We all know the dangers; you're not leading us to our death. We are willingly going with you, so if anything happens, it will be our own fault."

"Puck, tell everyone to come down here," Quinn said before walking to the other side of the room and sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Guys, get down here!" Puck bellowed.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I could have done that."

"You didn't tell me how to do it," Puck said, shrugging.

Quinn waited until everyone came down the stairs and gathered around. She didn't like having to take the time, but she needed to do this—she needed to give them a choice.

"Why are we wasting time?" Santana asked.

"If you're going to tell us you want to go alone again—"

"I'm not," Quinn interrupted Rachel. "But I am telling you all that you have a choice. You do not have to come, and I would completely understand if you don't. We're going to be fighting an incredibly powerful vampire that used to be a Slayer. She already killed one person in this room and she's the reason Mr. Schue was attacked. So, if you want to stay here, I won't blame you."

"I'm not letting you have all the fun," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "And after what that bitch did to me, I want some payback."

"I can't let you go without me," Brittany stated.

"Actually, B, maybe you should stay here," Santana said, furrowing her brows.

"If you're going, I'm going," Brittany replied.

Puck shrugged. "You know I'm in."

"You know my feelings on the situation," Rachel added.

"Tina, you should stay here," Quinn said when the other girl didn't respond. "Or go home and be with your family."

"I'm not crazy about the idea of facing some vampire, but you can't honestly think I'm going to sit at home when I know what I know," Tina said, shaking her head. "I can't just sit at home with my parents and wait for the world to end."

"You don't know what you're getting into," Quinn remarked. "You've never fought a vampire."

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't learn," Tina replied. "Is it the same as the movies? Stake to the heart, holy water, beheading, fire?"

"That'll do it," Puck said with a nod.

Quinn let out a long sigh. "Alright, make sure you are prepared; we're leaving in twenty minutes."

"Did you really think you would be able to convince any of us not to go with you?" Rachel asked as everyone else dispersed.

"No," Quinn laughed lightly, "not really." She shrugged. "I had to try, though."

"You have to face it, your friends are not going to abandon you," Rachel said, squeezing her hand. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to grab my weapons bag."

Quinn watched as Rachel headed up to her room and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Before she even said anything, she knew there would be no talking her girlfriend out of going But even though it was their choice, she would never forgive herself if anything happened to her friends, and especially not if something happened to Rachel. The thought of losing Rachel scared her more than the knowledge that she was about to come face to face with Shelby.

* * *

><p>Quinn repeatedly looked over her shoulder at her friends, checking to make sure they were alone. Even though Santana was bringing up the rear, she feared they would be attacked from behind. The streets were surprisingly deserted and it was a little unnerving for her. While there were usually not a lot of people out after dark—even if they didn't know about the supernatural side of the town, people generally knew better than to go out—they almost always ran across a few people. But right now, the streets were completely empty, and it really wasn't that late in the evening.<p>

"What is that light?" Rachel asked.

"That is where we are going," Myk replied.

Quinn looked ahead and saw what Rachel was referring to; there was a blue glow in the distance just above the tree line. She had no idea what it was, but it looked like it was coming from Lima Cemetery, one of the biggest cemeteries in town.

The closer they got, the faster Quinn's heart beat; she didn't think she had been this nervous in her life. Ever since she learned of Shelby's existence, she knew it would come down to this, but even with all the ways she tried to prepare herself, she didn't feel like she was ready. She didn't want to die tonight—she didn't want her friends to die tonight. As many vampires as Shelby seemed to command, Quinn knew they were probably going to face a small army, not to mention Shelby herself. They were just a group of high school students, but the fate of all mankind was on their shoulders, which was a daunting prospect for her.

"We should have just drove up to them," Puck commented.

"Yeah, that wouldn't alert them to the fact that we're here," Santana said, rolling her eyes

They had parked several blocks away before Myk instructed them to get out of the car. Quinn didn't want to risk any of the vampires hearing them coming; they needed the element of surprise. It would be one of the few advantages they had and she wasn't going to lose it because they were too lazy to walk the last few blocks to the cemetery.

"Did you hear that?" Tina suddenly whispered.

"Hear what?" Rachel asked, stopping in her tracks.

"It sounded like—I don't know," Tina frowned, looking around.

They all looked around, but Quinn didn't see anything. After a few moments Myk started walking again and everyone followed him. When they hit the sidewalk, the little demon stopped, turning around to look at Quinn.

"They're through there," Myk said, nodding toward the trees that separated them from the cemetery.

Quinn looked, but she couldn't see beyond the trees. As she stepped off the sidewalk to go forward, the sound of something snapping made her pause. The glow from the cemetery lit up the sky fairly well, but she was unable to see what caused the noise.

"Maybe it was simply an animal," Rachel whispered.

"Maybe, but I don't think that was," Quinn replied when a low growl sounded nearby.

"Are those vampires?" Tina asked.

"They are," Santana said as her face morphed into its vampire form.

There were only two vampires; the first rushed Quinn while Santana went after the other one. The vampire tried to punch Quinn in the face, but she blocked the hit and returned one of her own. It then grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back, causing her to fall off the sidewalk. She head-butted the vampire and pushed it off of her, but as she got to her feet, so did the vampire. It grabbed her shoulder with one hand and her lower arm with the other; for a moment she felt like he was going to break her arm, but he suddenly let go. Quinn looked up to find Puck holding the vampire from behind while Rachel rammed a stake into its chest.

She looked to see how Santana was doing with the other vampire, but she must have dusted it because she was walking toward her, dusting her shirt off. Quinn shook her head; she really needed to focus. She shouldn't have let the vampire grab her like she did, but her mind was all over the place at the moment. She couldn't have that, though; it would surely get her and everyone else killed.

"So they just—poof?" Tina asked.

"Lucky for us, yes," Rachel replied. "The Slayer couldn't be very discreet if bodies were left every time she killed a vampire."

"We have more company," Quinn stated, looking to her right.

A group of three vampires was coming over to them, so Quinn put herself in front of her friends. The vampire in the front, a man with blonde hair and clothes that must have come out of the eighties, was smirking as it said something to the other two.

"The Slayer," he said when he was done whispering. "Mistress Shelby would like to see you."

"Don't worry, she'll see me soon enough," Quinn replied. "After all, I am here to kill her."

The blonde vampire laughed. "You will not stop my Mistress."

"Watch me," Quinn retorted.

"Come with us and we'll let you live—for now," the vampire said. "Don't and we'll kill all your little friends and then take you to Mistress Shelby."

"I think I like the third option," Santana replied. "We kick your outdated ass."

Quinn could hear Brittany chanting something behind her and looked over her shoulder to see what the blonde was doing.

The vampire shrugged. "I guess we'll do it the hard way."

"I guess so," Santana replied as a ball of fire went flying toward the group of vampires.

* * *

><p>As they hid behind a mausoleum, Quinn could see out of the corner of her eye that Tina was still staring at Brittany. She was honestly surprised the goth girl's shriek didn't alert all the vampires in the cemetery to their presence. But Quinn couldn't really blame the other girl; she knew this all must be a lot to take in. It's not every day you find out one of your friends is the Slayer, another is a witch, and yet another is a vampire that you thought was dead and buried in the ground.<p>

"What do we do now?" Rachel whispered.

Quinn sighed. "I don't know."

None of the vampires were alone and there were not enough places to hide to conceal their presence. Shelby was in the middle of the cemetery and Quinn could now see that the glow was being emitted from a large circle that she was standing at the center of. There was also something glowing in the middle of her chest, and Quinn could only assume it was the amulet.

Quinn looked at Brittany and asked, "Do you see that group of five or six vampires out there?"

Brittany walked to the side of the mausoleum, where Quinn was standing, and looked over the side. "The group with the one with the weird hair?"

Quinn nodded. "Do you think you can hit that branch above them with fire and make it fall on them?"

"I can try," Brittany replied. "I don't know if it will work."

Quinn got out of Brittany's way and watched as the other girl stroked the small bag she kept around her neck while chanting. She didn't know what was in the bag, but she knew it made casting fire possible. Unfortunately, Brittany told her before that she could only do it a limited number of times; it seemed to take a lot of Brittany's energy, and she would eventually become too weak to cast any more spells. However, the more she worked at it, the better she became, and Quinn imagined she would be an incredibly powerful witch within a few years.

"What is your plan?" Rachel asked.

"I hope she can set that branch of fire and make it fall on the vampires, setting some of them on fire in the process," Quinn replied. "And if not, it will certainly get Shelby's attention." She turned to the rest of the group. "As soon as Brittany finishes the spell, we're going out there. Make sure you stay away from Shelby and try to at least stay in groups of two."

Quinn looked over the side again when Brittany shot fire at the tree branch. It hit precisely how she was hoping it would and the vampires all looked up just in time to see it fall, setting three of them on fire.

"Go!" Quinn said.

With the vampires distracted by the fire, the group ran out into the cemetery. None of the vampires seemed to notice them at first, and while they were turned away, Quinn and Puck both managed to stake a vampire in the back. It didn't take long for the rest of the vampires to realize what was going on, and it quickly became pandemonium. Quinn was trying to stake as many of them as she could before the ones further away got to the group, but she was fighting three at a time, which made it difficult.

Two of them were holding her arms while the third rushed her; she kicked the vampire in the chest, using the momentum to do a backflip, making the vampires lose their balance. One fell, releasing her arm, which she used to stake the one that was still holding her. She quickly thrust the stake into the other vampire's chest and then grabbed the crossbow from her bag. As the vampire she kicked began to get up, she shot an arrow into his heart and hurriedly reloaded. Shooting off several more arrows, she dusted three vampires, one of which was running after Rachel from behind.

"Enough!" Shelby yelled just as Quinn raised her crossbow again.

All the vampires stopped fighting and began backing away. They were clearly all afraid of Shelby and would do anything she ordered them to do.

"What do we do?" Puck asked as he walked to her side.

Quinn fired an arrow at a vampire, turning it to dust. "She doesn't control us."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Shelby said, still standing in the center of the blue ring. "Bring him out."

A vampire walked out of the nearest crypt with his hand wrapped around Leroy Berry's throat.

Quinn closed her eyes as Rachel yelled, "Daddy!"

"Fuck," Santana mumbled.

Quinn walked toward Shelby, trying to figure out how to get Rachel's father away from the vampire. They were about fifteen yards away, though, and she knew she could never get to them without the vampire killing Leroy.

"I have to wonder what it is about you that inspires such loyalty," Shelby mused. "I have to admit I was surprised when the vampire still fought for your side. She should have tried to kill you all and took her rightful place on my side, but yet she didn't. And then there's my daughter." Shelby looked at Rachel. "I anticipated her saying no to me, but I gave her the chance. Just like I gave Hiram the chance to bring her to me—one chance before I killed him."

Quinn stood there in stunned silence; her first thought was that the vampire was lying, but one look at Rachel's face told her that wasn't the case.

"And now she will have the pleasure of watching him die," Shelby said, pointing to Leroy, and then looking at Quinn. "As for you, I believe I underestimated you. I instructed the lookouts to bring you to me, but it seems as if you managed to slip past them. I guess the ones you didn't kill, I will have to myself for failing me. Do you know why I wanted you here?"

"I'm guessing to kill me," Quinn replied.

"If I just wanted to kill you, I could have done it any time," Shelby said, smiling. "I wanted you here to witness what I'm about to do. All these people you've tried to save," Shelby shook her head, "it made no difference. I'm going to kill every single one of them and I'm going to start with the people you care about most. And then I'm going to take pleasure in killing you." Shelby looked at the group of vampires. "Kill them, but leave the Slayer. She's mine."

* * *

><p>Rachel felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, and as Shelby ordered her minions to kill them all, Rachel looked at her father. Her first thought was to get to him, but there were so many vampires between them. As soon as she started running, she was grabbed around her waist and thrown back. She flinched when the back of her head hit the ground and then slowly raised her head. A vampire was bearing down on her, but between his legs she could see her father. The vampire no longer had him by the throat; instead, the little demon that brought them there was on top of the vampire while Leroy stood by.<p>

"What are you doing?" Santana asked, staking the vampire that had knocked her down. "Get your useless ass up!"

Santana's words snapped Rachel out of her daze and she got to her feet. She looked to see where her friends were, but everyone seemed like they were okay at the moment. Except for maybe Tina, who looked terrified as she backed away from a large, redheaded vampire. Since Puck was fighting two vampires at once, Rachel ran over and kicked one of them in the back of the leg. The vampire fell forward, which allowed Puck to stake it, and the other vampire turned on Rachel.

The vampire punched her in the mouth and she instantly tasted blood. The hit dazed her for a moment, but she shook it off and threw a punch back, hitting the vampire's nose and then kicking it in the groin. The vampire doubled over and Rachel jammed the stake into its back. As it turned to dust, she reached up and wiped some blood from her lip while she moved the fingers on her other hand to make sure none of them were broken. She never really understood how everyone else did it; every time she punched something, it felt like her hand was breaking.

She turned to look at Tina again and a vampire was nearly thrown into Rachel, but she ducked out of the way. As Santana pushed past her to get to the vampire, Rachel began sprinting over to her friend. Tina seemed to be holding her own against the vampire considering this was her first time out, but she seemed quite unsure of herself. Just as she reached Tina, she finally dusted the vampire.

"That was—" Tina shook her head. "I don't know what that was." Tina looked over Rachel's shoulder. "Is Quinn alright?"

Rachel looked at her girlfriend. "I hope so."

She couldn't think about Quinn right now; she had to focus on the rest of the vampires and trust that the blonde would be okay. And she definitely couldn't think about the look of betrayal on Quinn's face when she looked at her earlier.

Rachel counted nine vampires that were left; Puck was fighting two, Santana three, several were standing in the middle not doing much of anything, another was occupied with Brittany, and the last was coming at Rachel and Tina. Rachel ducked just as it lunged at her, which tripped the vampire, causing it to hit Tina instead. When she looked up, she noticed Puck struggling; one vampire had the boy's arms pinned behind his back while the other one was walking toward him with what looked like one of Quinn's daggers.

"I have to help Noah," Rachel said as she sprinted away.

Rachel ran to Puck as fast as her legs would carry, but she didn't get there fast enough, and she watched on in horror as he was jabbed in the side with the sword.

"Noah!" she yelled.

Brittany must have heard her and noticed what was going on because just as Rachel reached the scene, a bolt of fire hit the vampire's back and he burst into flames. The other vampire threw Puck to the ground and her friend groaned, clutching at his side. Before the vampire could do anything to him, Rachel jumped on it, knocking her and the vampire to the ground. She punched it, ignoring the pain in her hand, and staked the vampire quickly, landing with a thud as the vampire disappeared beneath her.

"Noah," Rachel said, crawling over to him.

"The asshole stabbed me!" Puck said, raising his hands to look at them.

"Keep pressure on it," Rachel said, pulling off the thin cardigan she was wearing over her shirt. "Use this."

"Brittany," Puck said.

Rachel frowned. "What?"

"Brittany," Puck repeated, nodding over Rachel's shoulder.

Rachel looked back in time to watch a vampire sink its teeth into Brittany's neck. She jumped up and started running to the blonde; out of the corner of her eye, she could also see Santana flying toward Brittany. She had no way of stopping him from biting Brittany, so she threw the only thing she had in her hand—her cross. It hit the vampire, making him flinch away from it, and he let Brittany go just as Santana threw herself at him.

As Santana wailed on the vampire, Rachel checked on Brittany. There was blood on her neck, but she was standing, so Rachel took that as a good sign.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Brittany nodded as she held a hand to her neck. "I feel a little dizzy."

"It's probably from the sudden outflow of blood," Rachel reasoned. "Are you going to pass out?"

"I don't know," Brittany replied.

"Maybe you should sit down," Rachel suggested. "Come over here with Noah."

As Rachel led Brittany over to Puck, Santana was still punching the vampire and it didn't look like she was going to stake him anytime soon. She looked over her shoulder as she sat the blonde down on the grass. Tina was still fighting the vampire from earlier and two other vampires were trying to pull Santana away from the other. She looked around for the others and saw them fighting with Myk—or more accurately, chasing the furry demon as he weaved between headstones. She turned away from Myk and looked to the middle of the cemetery, where the blue glow was getting brighter.

* * *

><p>Quinn didn't rush in to fight Shelby; her mind was racing, but she was at least trying to appear as if she was calm. She didn't want the vampire thinking she had gotten to her; she had, but Shelby didn't need to know that. As she looked at the vampire, all she could think was that this was Rachel's mother and her girlfriend knew it. How could Rachel not tell her? And how long had she known?<p>

She and Shelby were just sort of circling each other, neither taking their eyes off the other. Quinn was waiting for the vampire to make the first move, but she didn't seem as if she was in a hurry. It was taking all her willpower not to look at the battle going on less than ten yards away from them. She had to trust that her friends could handle themselves, though; she needed to keep her focus on Shelby and worry about nothing else.

"Do you really think you will be able to protect them," Shelby suddenly asked her.

"I know I can," Quinn replied, and she really wanted to believe it.

Shelby smiled. "You know, I was that confident when I was the Slayer, too. For a long time, I thought nothing could touch me. Then this vampire cornered me one night not long after I had Rachel." Shelby shrugged. "It was no different than any other fight except I lost and the next day I woke up like this."

"Are we going to fight or are you going to reminisce about your days as the Slayer?" Quinn asked.

"Your friends will actually be lucky if they die before I unleash the amulet's power," Shelby continued. "Everyone else on earth, however, will suffer for eternity."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Myk motioning to her. She tried to discreetly look at him; he was making a triangular motion on his chest and then slamming his hand into his fist. She frowned slightly until he pointed at Shelby and she realized that he was trying to tell her to smash the amulet—or at least that's what she thought he was trying to say.

She still had the crossbow in her hand and she wondered if she would be able to shoot it at Shelby without missing or without Shelby blocking it. It seemed unlikely, though, so she threw it to the ground and pulled a stake out of her bag before also tossing it to the side.

"Are you ready, then?" Shelby asked.

"You're the one that keeps waiting," Quinn retorted.

Shelby nodded and before Quinn knew it, Shelby had lunged forward, punching her. The vampire was incredibly quick—much quicker than any other vampire she had faced—and one punch knocked Quinn back. She blocked the next punch and grabbed Shelby's arm, flipping her onto her back. Shelby was on her feet within seconds and kicked Quinn in the stomach.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Shelby asked.

"Are you?" Quinn asked back.

Shelby did a spinning kick, but Quinn jumped back, so it only clipped her shoulder. Behind her she heard Rachel call out Puck's name, but she couldn't turn around to look. Part of her was thinking the worst, wondering if her friend was still alive. The moment of distraction was enough for Shelby to grab her and throw her several yards, right into a gravestone. Quinn slowly got to her feet as pain radiated from her shoulder, where it had slammed into the stone. Before she was fully standing, Shelby had grabbed hold of her and tossed her again.

Luckily Quinn didn't hit another headstone; instead, she landed on grass and nearly rolled into an empty grave. Quinn's shoulder was aching and she tried to not put too much pressure on it as she stood. Shelby was already bearing down on her again; this time, she held her by the throat, lifting her off her feet, and walking backwards with her until Quinn's back slammed against the crypt wall.

"They just don't make Slayers like they used to," Shelby remarked.

Quinn let out a strangled laugh. "Because you were so great? You were only a Slayer for five years before you let a vampire kill you."

"That's four years longer than you're going to be one," Shelby replied.

"What makes you think you're going to win?" Quinn asked.

"Part of me wants to let you live, so your soul can feel what it's like to be ripped from your body," Shelby said, tightening her grip. "But then I wouldn't have the pleasure of killing you myself."

"How about neither," Quinn said, reaching out and grabbing the amulet, yanking it to break the chain.

The amulet was warm to the touch; Quinn turned it so the jeweled moon and stars were facing the crypt wall before slamming it against the concrete. The whole circle lit up for several moments before the cemetery went black; Quinn could barely see anything as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Now I'm really going to enjoy killing you," Shelby said, finally turning into her vampire form.

Shelby spun around with Quinn, throwing her through the air. Quinn landed on her back so hard that it took her breath away. Destroying the amulet had been her first priority. She knew she needed to get close enough to the vampire to get it. When she realized that Shelby was cocky, she knew all she had to do was stay calm and bait the vampire into grabbing her, which had been easier than she thought it would be. From her time on the Cheerios, she knew that being overconfident was usually a person's downfall; she just had to wait for the right moment. It was how she became captain of the cheerleading squad.

Now that the time to be patient was over, she could fight back.

Quinn got to her feet before Shelby could reach her and she engaged in hand to hand combat. Shelby was quick and strong, but Quinn managed to keep up with the vampire. Shelby surprised her with a kick to the stomach, though, and Quinn fell against a large headstone. She ducked out of the way when Shelby threw a punch, and the vampire hit the stone instead. Quinn kicked the back of Shelby's leg, causing her to fall to the ground, but Shelby quickly swept the blonde's legs out from beneath her.

Shelby rolled onto Quinn, head-butting her in the face, dazing her for a moment from the impact. Quinn's hands were pinned over her head and as much as she struggled, she couldn't seem to free them from Shelby's grip.

"Where are your friends now?" Shelby hissed.

"Right here."

Shelby was knocked off of her and Quinn looked up to find Santana standing there.

"Santana—"

"Don't give me that 'I have to do this alone' shit," Santana interrupted. "This bitch killed me and I'm going to repay the favor."

Shelby flipped to her feet, punching Santana, who punched her back. Quinn tried to kick her, but Shelby blocked it, getting punched by Santana instead. When Shelby turned back to her, Quinn threw a punch, hitting the vampire, and then Santana punched her again. Quinn tripped Shelby and Santana jumped on her, grabbing her hands, and wrestling them to her sides.

"You're right," Quinn said, looking down at the two vampires. "You did underestimate me."

"Us," Santana corrected.

"Us," Quinn repeated as she leaned down, plunging the stake into Shelby's chest.

She watched as the vampire looked at her before disintegrating into dust. As Santana stood up and dusted herself off, Quinn stared at the spot Shelby's face was.

"Are you getting your ass up?" Santana asked.

Quinn looked around at her friends, who were all standing around, and locked eyes with Rachel. She stood up and dropped her stake before turning and walking away.

* * *

><p>As Quinn walked away, she felt tears prickling at the corner of her eyes. After everything, she just wanted to get to her car and be alone right now. She was halfway down the street when she heard footsteps running up behind her; without turning around, she knew exactly who it was. She couldn't talk to her right now, though. Now that the fight with Shelby was over and she knew mankind was safe, the full realization that Rachel lied to her was finally sinking in.<p>

"Quinn!" Rachel called after her.

Quinn ignored the brunette and continued walking. Part of her wanted to take off running, but she didn't want Rachel to know how upset she was. It would show that she was vulnerable and Quinn hated feeling weak. She expected people to lie to her—she used to do it every day of her life—but not Rachel. Not someone she loved, who claimed to love her.

"Quinn!" Rachel called again, sounding much closer this time.

"I want to be alone," Quinn said emotionlessly.

She really hoped Rachel would listen to what she was saying and leave her alone, but this was Rachel, so she knew the chances of that happening were slim to none.

"Quinn, please!" Rachel begged.

"What?" Quinn asked, finally turning around.

"I'm sorry," Rachel said. "I know I should have told you when I first found out, but I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Quinn asked. "That I would suddenly not want you around?"

"That you wouldn't do what needed to be done," Rachel replied. "That you would spare her because she's my mother. That you would try to find a way around killing her and end up hurt because of it—or worse. And, yes, part of it was probably my fear that you would look at me differently because of who my biological mother was. I wanted to tell you, but something stopped me. So, I waited, and the longer I waited, the harder it became."

"How could you think that?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said with tears in her eyes. "I was just so confused and afraid when I found it; I was shocked and I didn't know what to think. Right after it happened, I didn't tell you because I don't think the truth had fully sunk in yet, and I just didn't know what to do with the information. I had been wondering about my mother my whole life and then I find out that she's the vampire that turned Santana. It was so overwhelming."

"How long?" Quinn asked.

"How long what?" Rachel asked.

"How long have you known?" Quinn replied. "How long have you been lying to me?"

"Shelby told me when she had me kidnapped," Rachel said, looking down.

Quinn shook her head. "But that was months ago! You've been lying to me this whole time?" Quinn laughed sardonically. "Did you even really escape like you said?"

"No," Rachel admitted. "She said she was giving me one chance and then she let me go, telling me that the next time she would kill me."

Quinn shook her head again as she turned around and started walking down the road.

"Quinn, please stop!" Rachel called out. "Just—talk to me. Say something—anything."

Quinn stopped, took a deep breath, and turned around. "Fine. I love you, but I can't trust you. You've been lying to me for the past two months, and it wasn't just a little, white lie. You lied to me about Shelby being your mother! You say you were afraid I would get hurt, but did you ever stop and think about what would happen if she told me while I was in the middle of fighting her?"

"I didn't think she would say anything," Rachel interrupted.

"So, you were just going to keep lying to me?" Quinn asked.

"No, of course not!" Rachel replied. "I swear I was going to tell you when Shelby was gone."

"You were the one person I thought I could trust!" Quinn found herself yelling. "Do you know how much it hurts to find out everything is a lie? I'm used to being lied to—boyfriends, my best friend, hell even my parents—but I never thought you would do it to me." Quinn could no longer keep her tears at bay; she didn't even bother wiping away the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. "You were the one person I thought I could count on—the one person I thought loved me and wouldn't break my heart."

"Quinn, I know I hurt you—"

"No," Quinn interrupted. "You did more than hurt me. I know you probably thought you were doing the right thing, but it doesn't make it hurt any less." Quinn sighed. "And I can't be with someone I can't trust."

"Quinn, no," Rachel whispered. "Please."

Quinn could see the pain in Rachel's eyes and her first instinct was to reach out and wrap the other girl in her arms. Instead, she turned around and started walking away again, ignoring Rachel's pleas for her to come back.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked in late to school the next day, but she didn't really care. Instead of going to her first class, she went straight to the training room. Sue must have known everything turned out okay—the sun had come up after all—but she knew her Watcher would want a full report. She thought about going to her after she left the cemetery, but after wondering around for a while, Quinn eventually found herself at Mercedes' house. She didn't know where else to go since anyone that had been at the cemetery would want to talk about what happened and Quinn was in no mood to talk. Mercedes gave her a hard time before finally letting her in, but in the end, she let her crash on the couch.<p>

When she walked into the training room, Sue was inside, packing some books into a box. She looked up when the door closed and then looked back down.

"I take it you slayed the vampire," Sue commented.

"Yeah," Quinn answered. "It turns out she really wasn't so special, after all. I'm sorry I didn't come to you last night, but—there was a lot going on."

"It doesn't matter," Sue replied.

Quinn watched as Sue threw some more books into the box and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Packing," Sue replied.

She frowned; her Watcher never exactly acted normal, but she was acting really strange at the moment. Quinn really thought she would be more interested in her fight with Shelby, but she didn't seem to be interested in much of anything at the moment.

"Do you want the report from last night?" Quinn asked.

"Later," Sue said.

Quinn frowned further. "What's going on?"

"I'm no longer your Watcher," Sue stated.

"What?" Quinn asked.

"Somehow, they also found out about Santana and they told me I needed to bring her to the Council's headquarters for testing," Sue said, looking up. "They also told me to tell you to capture Shelby, not kill her. I told them I wasn't risking your life like that; you were going to kill Shelby and that was that. Between Santana and so many people knowing you're the Slayer, they told me I can't control you and that I care about you too much you."

"What does that mean?" Quinn wondered.

"According to them, that I'm not fit to be your Watcher any longer," Sue replied.

Quinn looked at her former coach with her mouth agape. How could the Council fire her? She knew her Watcher was on probation, but she didn't think the woman would actually ever get fired. She had been a lot more invested lately, training her and all her friends and trying to get the Council involved when it came to Shelby, and Quinn didn't see how they could fire her for disagreeing about Shelby.

"I'll still be your Watcher until they send a new one," Sue added.

"How long with that be?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know," Sue answered. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Yes," Quinn said, not really thrilled with the idea of going, but at least Rachel wasn't in the class.

"Come back here after school," Sue demanded. "Defeating one vampire is no reason to get sloppy. There are a lot of other things out there and you need to be prepared."

Quinn nodded and turned to leave. As she walked out of the room, she suddenly understood why all the other Slayers worked alone. Her friends may have helped her, but in the end, it only got her in trouble. Now, she didn't even have her Watcher. More importantly, she realized why she tried to never depend on people. It only left her vulnerable to being hurt. Rachel was the first person she truly trusted and it only led to having her heart broken.

She may have defeated Shelby, but part of her felt like it didn't really matter. She ended up losing the one thing in the world that meant the most to her and, for the first time, she wished she had never become the Slayer.

* * *

><p><strong>I know everyone probably wished it would have ended on a happier note, but what would be the fun in that? The sequel (aka season 2) will probably be up sometime in October, so just look at this time as the summer hiatus that happens with any television show.<strong>

**As I said before, I do have the sequel all planned out and even some of the final part of the trilogy planned. I have no idea what it will be called, so put me on author alert or just keep an eye out for it. Also, if you follow me on tumblr, I'll probably announce the name of the new story and when it will be posted as soon as I figure those things out.**

**Thank you to everyone that has stuck with this story and a huge thanks to everyone that has favorited, followed, or reviewed. The support and kind words have meant more to me than you know.**

**I will hopefully see you all in October.**


End file.
